The flower bud is twisted as if the bindweed were so in the habit

of twisting that it carried the matter farther than necessary.

Enveloping the base of the flower bud are two large sepal-like

bracts, each keeled like a duck’s breast down the center; if these

are pulled back, it is seen that they are not part of the flower,

because they join the stem below it. There are five pale green sepals

of unequal sizes, so that some look like fragments of sepals. The

corolla is long, bell-shaped, opening with five, starlike lobes;

each lobe has a thickened white center; and while its margins are

usually pink, they are sometimes a vivid pink-purple and sometimes

entirely white. Looking down into this flower-bell, and following the

way pointed out by the white star-points which hold out the lobes,

we find five little nectar-wells; and each two of these wells are

separated by a stamen which is joined to the corolla at its base

and at its anther-end presses close about the style of the pistil.

When the flower first opens, it shows the spoon-shaped stigmas close

together, pushing up through the anther cluster; later, the style

elongates, bringing the stigmas far beyond the anthers. The pollen is

white, and through the lens looks like tiny pearls.

When we study the maturing seed-capsule, we can understand the uneven

size of the sepals better; for after the corolla with the attached

stamens falls, the sepals close up around the pistil; the smallest

sepal wraps it first, and the larger ones in order of size, enfolding

the precious parcel; and outside of all, the great, leafy bracts

with their strong keels provide protection. The pod has two cells

and two seeds in each cell. But it is not by seeds alone that the

bindweed spreads; it is the running rootstock which, when the plant

once gets a start, helps it to cover a large area. The bindweed is a

relative of the morning-glory and it will prove an interesting study

to compare the two in methods of twining, in the time of day of the

opening of the flowers, the shape of the leaves, etc. So far as my

own observations go, the bindweed flowers seem to remain open only

during the middle of the day, but Müller says the flowers stay open

on moonlight nights to invite the hawk-moths. This is an interesting

question for investigation, and it may be settled by a child old

enough to make and record truthful observations.

There are several species of bindweed, but all agree in general

habits. The field bindweed lacks the bracts at the base of the flower.

LESSON CXXIX

THE HEDGE BINDWEED

_Leading thought_--There are some plants which have such weak stems

that they are obliged to cling to objects for support. The bindweed

is one of these, and the way that it takes hold of objects and grows

upon them is an interesting story.

_Method_--It is better to study this plant where it grows; but if

this is not practical, the vine with its support should be brought

into the schoolroom, the two being carefully kept in their natural

relative positions. Several of the questions should be given to the

pupils for their personal observation upon this vine in the field. It

is an excellent study for pencil or water-color drawing.

_Observations_--1. How does the bindweed get support, so that its

leaves and its flowers may spread out in the sunshine? Why does its

own stem not support it? What would happen to a plant with such a

weak stem, if it did not twine upon other objects?

2. How does it climb upon other plants? Does its stem always wind

or twist in the same direction? How does it first catch hold of the

other plant? If the supporting object is firm, does it wind as often

for a given space as when it has a frail support? Can you see the

reason for this?

3. Look at the leaves. Sketch one, to be sure that you see its

beautiful form and veins. Note if the leaves are arranged alternately

on the stem, and then observe how and why they seem to come from one

side of the stem. Why do they do this?

4. What is there peculiar about the flower bud? Look at its stem

carefully and describe it. Cut it across and look at the end with a

lens and describe it. Turn back two sepal-like bracts at the base of

the flower or bud. Are they a part of the flower, or are they below

it? Find the true sepals. How many are there? Are they all the same

size?

5. Examine the flower in blossom. What is its shape? Describe its

colors. Look down into it. How many stamens are there, and how are

they set in the flower? How does the pistil look when the flower

first opens? Later? Can you see the color of the pollen? Can you find

where the nectar is borne? How many nectar-wells are there?

6. What insects do you find visiting bindweed flowers? Do the flowers

remain open at night or on dark days?

7. Study the seed-capsule. How is it protected on the outside? What

next enfolds it? Can you see now the uses of the sepals of several

sizes? Cut a seed-capsule across with all its coverings, and see how

it is protected. How many seeds are there in the capsule?

8. Has the bindweed other methods of spreading than by seeds? Look at

the roots and tell what you observe about them.

9. Make a study of the plant on which the bindweed is climbing, and

tell what has happened to it.

10. Compare the bindweed with the morning-glory, and notice the

differences and resemblances.

_Supplementary reading_: “Morning-Glory Stories,” in Flowers and

Their Friends, Morley; Botany Reader, Newell, Chap. 10; Golden

Numbers, page 74.

THE DODDER

TEACHER’S STORY

[Illustration: _Dodder in blossom._

Photo by Cyrus Crosby.]

If Sinbad’s “Old Man of the Sea” had been also a sneak thief, then

we might well liken him to dodder. There is an opportunity for an

excellent moral lesson connected with the study of dodder and its

underhand ways. When a plant ceases to be self-supporting, when it

gets its own living from the food made by other plants for their own

sustenance, it loses its own power of food-making; and the dodder

is an excellent example of the inevitable punishment for “sponging”

a living. The dodder has no leaves of its own for it does not need

to manufacture food nor to digest it. Its dull yellow stems reach

out in long tendrils, swayed by every breeze, until they come in

contact with some other plant to which they at once make fast. One of

these tendrils seizes its victim plant as a serpent winds its prey,

except that it always winds in the same direction--it passes under

from the right side and over from the left. Who knows whether the

serpents are always so methodical! After dodder gets its hold, little

projections appear upon its coiled stems, which look like the prolegs

of a caterpillar; but they are not legs, they are suckers, worse

than those of the devil-fish; for the latter uses its suckers only

to hold fast its prey; but the dodder uses its suckers to penetrate

the bark of its victim, and reach down to the sap channels where they

may, vampirelike, suck the blood from their victims, or rather the

matured sap which is flowing from the leaves to the growing points of

the host plant. Not having anything else to do, dodder devotes its

energies to the producing of seeds, in order to do more mischief. The

species which attack clover and other farm crops seem to manage to

get their seeds harvested with the rest; and the farmer who does not

know how to test his clover seed for impurities, sows with it the

seeds of its enemy.

The dodder flowers are small, globular and crowded together. The

calyx has five lobes; the corolla is globular, with five little

lobes around its margin and a stamen set in each notch. A few of

the species have a four-lobed calyx and corolla; but however many

the lobes, the flowers are shiftless looking and are yellowish or

greenish white; despite its shiftless appearance, however, each

flower manages to mature four perfectly good, plump seeds.

There are, according to Gray, nine species of dodder more or less

common in America. Some of the species, among which is the flax

dodder, live only upon certain other species of plant life, while

others take almost anything that comes within reach. Where it

flourishes, it grows so abundantly that it makes large yellow patches

in fields, completely choking out the leaves of its victims.

LESSON CXXX

THE DODDER

_Leading thought_--There are some plants which not only depend upon

other plants to hold them up, but they suck the life-juice from these

plants and thus they steal their living.

_Method_--Bring in dodder with the host plant for the pupils to study

in the schoolroom, and ask them to observe afterwards the deadly work

of this parasite in the field.

_Observations_--1. What is the color of the stem? In which direction

does it wind?

2. How is the stem fastened to the host plant? Tear off these suckers

and examine the place where they were attached with a lens, and note

if they enter into the stem of the host plant.

3. How does the dodder get hold of its victim? Has the dodder any

leaves of its own? How can it get along and grow without leaves?

4. How do the flowers look through a lens? Are there many flowers?

Can you see the petal lobes and the stamens?

5. How many seeds does each flower develop? How do the seeds look? In

what way are they a danger to our agriculture?

* * * * *

_I should also avoid the information method. It does a child

little good merely to tell him matters of fact. The facts

are not central to him and he must retain them by a process

of sheer memory; and in order that the teacher may know

whether he remembers, the recitation is employed,--re-cite,

to tell over again. The educational processes of my younger

days were mostly of this order,--the book or the teacher

told, I re-told, but the results were always modified by an

unpredictable coefficient of evaporation. Good teachers now

question the child to discover what he has found out or what

he feels, or to suggest what further steps may be taken, and

not to mark him on what he remembers. In other words, the

present-day process is to set the pupil independently at work,

whether he is young or old, and the information-leaflet or

lesson does not do this. Of course, it is necessary to give

some information, but chiefly for the purpose of putting

the pupil in the way of acquiring for himself and to answer

his natural inquiries; but information-giving about nature

subjects is not nature-study._--L. H. BAILEY in “The Outlook

to Nature.”

THE MILKWEED

_Teacher’s Story_

“_Little weavers of the summer, with sunbeam shuttle bright,

And loom unseen by mortals, you are busy day and night,

Weaving fairy threads as filmy, and soft as cloud swans,

seen

In broad blue sky-land rivers, above earth’s fields of

green._”

--RAY LAURANCE.

[Illustration: I]

Is there any other young plant that shows off its baby-clothes as

does the young milkweed! When it comes up through the soil, each

leaf is folded lengthwise around the stem, flannel side out, and

it is entirely soft and white and infantile. The most striking

peculiarity of the milkweed plant is its white juice, which is a

kind of rubber. Let a drop of it dry on the back of the hand, and

when we try to remove it we find it quite elastic and possessed of

all of the qualities of crude rubber. At the first trial it seems

quite impossible to tell from which part of the stem this white juice

comes, but by blotting the cut end once or twice, the hollow of the

center of the stem is seen to have around it a dark green ring, and

outside this is a light green ring. It is from the dark green ring

encircling the stem cavity that the milk exudes. This milk is not

the sap of the plant any more than resin is the sap of the pine; it

is a special secretion, and is very acrid to the taste, rendering

milkweed disgusting to grazing animals. If a milkweed stem be broken

or gashed, this juice soon heals the wound and keeps out germs, and

thus is of great use to the plant, since many insects feed upon it.

If cut across, every vein in every leaf produces “milk”, and so does

every small flower pedicel. When the “milk” is by chance smeared on

cloth and allowed to dry, soap and water will not remove it, but it

yields readily to chloroform, which is a solvent of rubber.

[Illustration: _Milkweed in blossom._

Photo by Verne Morton.]

The milkweed leaves are in stately conventional pairs; if one pair

points east and west, the pair above and the pair below point north

and south. The leaf is beautiful in every particular; it has a dark

green upper surface, diversified with veins that join in scallops

near the border; it is soft to the touch on the upper surface, and is

velvety below. The lens reveals that the white under surface, or the

nap of the velvet, is a cover of fine white hairs.

The flower of the milkweed is too complicated for little folks even

to try to understand; but for the pupils of the seventh and eighth

grades it will prove an interesting subject for investigation, if

they study it with the help of a lens. In examining the globular

bud, we see the five hairy sepals, which are later hidden by the

five long, pinkish green petals which bend back around the stem.

When we look into the flower, we see five little cornucopias--which

are really horns of plenty, since they are filled with nectar; from

the center of each is a little, fleshy tongue, with its curved point

resting on the disk at the center of the flower. Between each two of

these nectar-horns can be seen the white bordered opening of a long

pocket--like a dress-pocket--at the upper end of the opening of which

is a black dot. Slip a needle into the pocket opening until it pushes

against the black dot, and out pops a pair of yellow saddle-bags,

each attached to the black dot which joins them. These are the

pollen-bags, and each was borne in a sac, shaped like a vest-pocket,

one lying either side of the upper end of the long pocket. These

pollen-bags are sticky, and they contract so as to close over the

feet of the visiting bee.

[Illustration:

1, _Milkweed flower, enlarged._ 2, _Same more enlarged. a,a,

nectar-horns; p, pocket; o,o, openings to the pocket; s,

pollen-bags in place; s′, pollen-bags removed._

]

Since the stem of the flower cluster droops and each flower pedicel

droops, the bee is obliged to cling, hanging back down, while getting

the nectar, and has to turn about as if on a pivot in order to thrust

her tongue into the five cornucopias in succession; she is then

certain to thrust her claws into a long pocket, and it proceeds to

close upon them, its edges being like the jaws of a trap. The bee,

in trying to extricate her feet, leaves whatever pollen-bags she had

inadvertently gathered in this trap-pocket, which gives them passage

to the stigma. But the milkweed flower, like some folks, is likely to

overdo matters, and sometimes these pockets grasp too firmly the legs

of the bee and hold her a prisoner. We often find insects thus caught

and dead--a result as far from the plan of the flower as from that of

the insect victim, had both been conscious. Sometimes bees become so

covered with these pollen-bags, which they are unable to scrape off,

that they die because of the clogging. But for one bee that suffers

there are thousands that carry off the nectar triumphantly, just as

thousands of people travel by water for one that is drowned.

The milkweed pod has been the admiration of nature students from the

beginning, and surely there is no plant structure that so interests

the child as this house in which the milkweed carries its seeds.

When we look at a green pod, we first admire its beautiful shape;

on either side of the seam, which will sometime open, are three or

four rows of projecting points rising from the felty surface of the

pod in a way that suggests embossed embroidery. We open the pod

by pulling it apart along the seam; and this is not a seam with

a raw edge but is finished with a most perfect selvage. When we

were children we were wont to dispossess these large green pods of

their natural contents, and because they snapped shut so easily, we

imprisoned therein bumblebees “to hear them sing,” but we always let

them go again. We now know that there is nothing so interesting as

to study the contents of the pod just as it is. Below the opening is

a line of white velvet; at one end, and with their “heads all in one

direction,” are the beautiful, pale-rimmed, brown, overlapping seeds;

and at the other end we see the exquisite milkweed silk with the

skein so polished that no human reel could give us a skein of such

luster. If we remove the contents of the pod as a whole, we see that

the velvety portion is really the seed-support and that it joins the

pod at either end. It is like a hammock full of babies, except that

the milkweed babies are fastened on the outside of the hammock.

No sooner is our treasure open to the air than the shining silk

begins to separate into floss of fairy texture. But before one seed

comes off, let us look at the beautiful pattern formed by the seeds

overlapping--such patterns we may see in the mosaics of mosques.

Pull off a seed, and with it comes its own skein of floss, shining

like a pearl; but if we hold the seed in the hand a moment the skein

unwinds itself into a fluff of shining threads as fine as spiders’

silk, and each individual thread thrusts itself out and rests upon

the air; and altogether there are enough of the threads to float

the seed, a balloon of the safest sort. If we wreck the balloon by

rubbing the floss through our fingers, we shall feel the very softest

textile fiber spun by Mother Nature.

If we look closely at our seed we see a margin all around it. Well,

what if the balloon should be driven over sea, and the seed dropped

upon the water? It must then drown unless it has a life preserver;

this margin that we have noted is of the safest cork, and is

warranted to float; if you do not believe it, try it.

If we pull off all the seeds, we can see that the velvety support is

flat and that all of the seeds are attached to it, but before we stop

our admiring study we should look carefully again at the inside of

the pod, for never was there a seed cradle with a lining more soft

and satiny.

LESSON CXXXI

THE MILKWEED

_Leading thought_--The milkweed when wounded secretes a milky juice

which is of a rubberlike composition; it flows out of the wounded

plant and soon hardens, thus protecting the wound from germs.

Milkweed flowers depend entirely upon insects for pollenation; the

pollen is not a free, yellow powder, but it is contained in paired

sacs, which are joined in V-shape. The seeds are carried by balloons,

and they can float on water as well.

[Illustration: _Milkweed seed-balloons just leaving the sheltering

pod._]

_Method_--Begin the study of the plant when it first appears above

ground in April or May. Give the pupils the questions about the

blossom for a vacation study, and ask that their observations be

kept in their notebooks. The study of the pods and seeds may be

made in September or October. When studying the milky juice, add a

geography lesson on rubber trees and the way that rubber is made.

_Observations_--1. _The plant._ How does the milkweed look as it

appears above ground in the spring? How are its leaves folded when it

first puts its head up? Cut off a fully expanded plant a few inches

above the ground. What flows out of the stem? Blot off the “milk”

and study the cross-section of the stem. What is at the center? How

many layers do you see around this center? Can you see from which the

milkweed juice comes? How does the juice feel as it dries on your

fingers? How does it look when dry? Place a few drops on a piece of

paper and when it is dry pull it off and see if it is elastic. Break

the edge of the leaf. Does the milky juice flow from it? Does it come

from the veins? Do you think that this is the sap of the milkweed?

Cut a gash in the milkweed stem and see how the “milk” fills the

wound. How does this help the plant? Do cattle feed upon the milkweed

when it grows in pastures? If not, why?

2. How are the leaves arranged on the stem? How do the upper and

under sides of the leaves differ? Examine with a lens, and see what

makes the nap of the velvet. What gives the light color to the under

side? Sketch a leaf showing its shape and venation, noting especially

the direction of the veins as they approach the edge of the leaf.

3. _The flower._ Where do the flower clusters come off the stems in

relation to the leaves? Does the stem of the flower cluster stand

stiff or droop? Take a good sized flower cluster and count the

flowers in it. What would happen if all these flowers should develop

into pods? How many flower clusters do you find on one plant? Which

of these clusters open first? Last?

4. Take off a single bud with its stem, or pedicel. Does the milky

juice come at the break? Is the bud stem stiff or drooping? What is

its color and how does it feel? What is the shape of the bud? How

many sepals has it? Look at the stem, sepals and bud with a lens and

describe their covering. Look for a flower just opening where the

petals stand out around it like a five-pointed star. What is their

color? What happens to the petals when the flower is fully expanded?

Can you see the sepals then? Look straight into the flower. Do you

see the five nectar-horns? Look at them with a lens and describe

them. What do you suppose is the use of the little curved tongue

coming out of each? Where does the tip of the tongue rest? With a

lens, look between two of the nectar horns; can you see a little slit

or pocket, with white protruding edges? Note just above the pocket a

black dot; thrust a needle into this pocket near its base and lift it

toward the crown of the flower, touching the black dot. What happens?

5. Describe the little branched object that came out when you touched

it with a needle. These are the pollen saddle-bags and each bag comes

from a pocket at one side of, and above the long pocket. Do these

saddle-bags cling to the needle? Look with a lens at some of the

older flowers, and see if you can find the pollen-bags protruding

from the long pocket. See if you can find how the long pocket is a

passageway to the stigma. To see how the little saddle-bags were

transported, watch a bee gathering nectar. Describe what happens.

6. Since the flowers bend over, how must the bee hold on to the

flower while she gathers nectar from the horns? As she turns around,

would she naturally pull out some of the saddle-bags? Catch a bee

in a collecting tube and see if her feet have upon them these

pollen-sacs. After gathering these pollen-sacs upon her feet, what

happens to them when she visits the next flower? Is the opening of

the long pocket like a trap to scrape the sacs off? Can you find on

milkweed flowers any bees or other insects that have been entangled

in these little traps and have thus perished? Try the experiment of

drawing a thread into one of these traps and with your lens see if

the opening closes over it.

7. How many kinds of insects do you find visiting the milkweed

flowers? Can you detect the strong odor of the flowers? Why must

the milkweed develop so many flowers and offer such an abundance of

nectar?

[Illustration: Photo by Verne Morton.]

THE WHITE WATER LILY

_Teacher’s Story_

“_Whence O fragrant form of light,

Hast thou drifted through the night

Swanlike, to a leafy nest,

On the restless waves at rest._”

Thus asks Father Tabb, and if the lily could answer it would have to

say: “Through ages untold have the waves upheld me until my leaves

and my flowers have changed into boats, my root to an anchor, and my

stems to anchor-ropes.”

There is no better example for teaching the relation between

geography and plant life than the water lily. Here is a plant

that has dwelt so long in a certain situation that it cannot live

elsewhere. The conditions which it demands are quiet water, not too

deep, and with silt bottom. Every part of the plant relies upon

these conditions. The rootstock has but few root hairs; and it

lies buried in the silt, not only because this gives it food, but

because it can there act as an anchor. Rising from the rootstock is

a stem as pliable as if made of rubber, and yet it is strong; its

strength and flexibility are gained by having at its center four

hollow tubular channels, and smaller channels near the outside.

These tubes extend the whole length of the stem, making it light so

that it will float, and at the same time giving it strength as well

as flexibility. At the upper end of the stem is a leaf or flower,

which is fashioned as a boat. The circular leaf is leathery and often

bronze-red below, with prominent veins, making an excellent bottom

to the boat; above, it is green with a polished surface, and here

are situated its breathing-pores, although the leaves of most plants

have these stomata in the lower surface. But how could the water lily

leaf breathe, if its stomata opened in the water? The leaf is large,

circular and quite heavy; it would require a very strong, stiff stem

to hold it aloft, but by its form and structure it is fitted to float

upon the water, a little green dory, varnished inside, and waterproof

outside.

[Illustration: _Egyptian lotus flower and seed-vessel._]

The bud is a little, egg-shaped buoy protected by its four pinkish

brown, leathery sepals; as it opens, we can see four rows of petals,

each overlapping the space between the next inner ones; at the

center there is a fine display of brilliant yellow anthers. Those

hanging over the greenish yellow pit, which has the stigma at its

center, are merely golden hooks. When the flower is quite open, the

four sepals, each a canoe in form, lie under the lily and float it;

although the sepals are brownish outside, they are soft white on the

inside next the flower. Between each two sepals stands a large petal,

also canoe-shaped, and perhaps pinkish on the outside; these help

the sepals in floating the flower. Inside of these there is a row of

large creamy white petals which stand upright; the succeeding rows of

petals are smaller toward the center and grade into the outer rows of

stamens, which are petallike at the base and pointed at the tip. The

inner rows of stamens make a fine golden fringe around the cup-shaped

pistil. This flower is of great use in teaching that sepals, petals

and stamens have the same origin and grade into each other, showing

the intermediate stages.

It has been stated that pond lilies, in the state of nature, have an

interesting way of opening in the early morning, closing at noon and

opening again toward evening. If we knew better the habits of the

insects which pollenate these flowers, we should possibly have the

key to this action. In our ponds in parks and grounds we find that

each species of pond lily opens and closes at its own particular time

each day. Each flower opens usually for several consecutive days, and

the first day of its blooming it opens about an hour later and closes

an hour earlier than on the days following. After the lilies have

blossomed, the flower stem coils in a spiral and brings the ripening

seeds below the surface of the water. The reason for this has not

yet been discovered. After about two months the pod bursts letting

the seeds out in the water. Each seed is in a little bag, which

the botanists call an aril, and which serves as a life preserver

floating the seed off for some distance from the parent plant. The

aril finally decays and the seed falls to the bottom where, if the

conditions are favorable, it develops into a new plant.

[Illustration: _Seed vessel of white pond lily._]

To emphasize the fact that the water lily is dependent upon certain

geographical conditions, ask the pupils to imagine a water lily

planted upon a hillside. How could its roots, furnished with such

insufficient rootlets, get nourishment there? How could its soft,

flexible stems hold aloft the heavy leaves and blossoms to the

sunlight? In such a situation it would be a mere drooping mass.

Moreover, if the pupils understand the conditions in which the water

lilies grow in their own neighborhood, they can understand the

conditions under which the plant grows in other countries. Thus, when

they read about the great _Victoria regia_ of the Amazon,--that water

lily whose leaves are large enough to support a man,--they would have

visions of broad stretches of still water and they should realize

that the bottom must be silt. If they read about the lotus of Egypt,

then they should see the Nile as a river with borders of still water

and with bottom of silt. Thus, from the conditions near at hand, we

may cultivate in the child an intelligent geographical imagination.

LESSON CXXXII

THE WATER LILY

_Leading thought_--The water lily has become dependent upon certain

conditions in pond or stream, and has become unfitted in form to live

elsewhere. It must have quiet waters, not too deep, and with silt

bottom.

_Method_--The study should be made first with the water lilies in

a stream or pond, to discover just how they grow. For the special

structure, the leaves and flowers may be brought to the schoolroom

and floated in a pan of water. The lesson may easily be modified

to fit the yellow water lily, which is in many ways even more

interesting, since in shallow water it holds its leaves erect while

in deeper water its leaves float.

_Observations_--1. Where is the water lily found? If in a pond, how

deep is the water? If in a stream, is it in the current? What kind

of bottom is there to the stream or pond? Do you find lilies in the

water of a limestone region? Why?

2. What is the shape of the leaf? What is the color above and below?

What is the texture? How is it especially fitted to float? How does

it look when very young?

3. Examine the petiole. How long is it? Is it stiff enough to hold up

the leaf? Why does it not need to hold up the leaf? How does it serve

as an anchor? Cut a stem across and describe its inside structure.

How does this structure help it float?

4. Examine the open flower. How many sepals? How many rows of petals?

How do the stamens resemble the petals? Can you see in the water lily

how the sepals, petals and stamens may all be different forms of the

same thing? How are the sepals fitted to keep the flower afloat? At

what times of the day does the lily open? At what hours does it close?

5. Describe the pistil. When the lily first opens, how are the

stamens placed around the pistil? What happens to the seed-box after

the blossoms have faded? Does the seed-pod float upon the water as

did the flower? What sort of stem has the flower? How does this stem

hold the seed-pod below the water?

6. What sort of seed has the water lily? Sketch the seed-pod. How

does the seed escape from it? How is it scattered and planted?

7. What sort of a root has the water lily? Are there many fine

rootlets upon it? Why? How does this rootstock serve the plant aside

from getting food?

8. Imagine a water lily set on a dry hillside. Could the stems uphold

the flowers or leaves? Is the petiole large enough to hold out such a

thick, heavy leaf? Could the root get food from a dry location? Why?

9. Judging from what you know of the places where water lilies grow

and the condition of the water there, describe the Nile where the

lotus grows. Describe the Amazon where the _Victoria regia_ grows.

PONDWEED

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: T]

The study of any plant which has obvious limitations as to where it

may grow should be made a help in the study of geography. Pondweed

is an excellent subject to illustrate this principle; it grows only

in quiet beds of sluggish streams or in ponds, or in the shallow

protected portions of lakes. It has tremendous powers of stretching

up, which render it able to grow at greater depth than one would

suppose possible, often flourishing where the water is from ten to

twenty feet deep. Often, when the sun is shining, it may be seen

like a bed of seaweed on the bottom. Its roots, like those of most

water plants, have less to do with the matter of absorbing water and

nourishment than do the roots of land plants, one of their chief

functions being to anchor the plant fast; they have a firm grip on

the bottom; and if pondweed is cut loose, it at once comes to the

surface, floats helplessly on its side, and soon dies.

The stem is very soft and pliable and the plant relies entirely on

the water to keep it upright. A cross-section of the stem shows that

its substance is spongy, with the larger open cells near the outer

edge, thus helping it to float. The leaves are two or three inches

long, their broad bases encircling the stem, their tips tapering to

slender points. They have parallel veins and ruffled edges. They are

dull olive green in color, much darker than the stems; in texture

they are very thin, papery, and so shining as to give the impression

of being varnished. No land plants have such leaves; they remind us

at once of kelp or other seaweeds. The leaves are scattered along

the stems, by no means thickly, for water plants do not seem to need

profuse foliage.

In blossom time the pondweed shows its real beauty. The stems grow

and grow, like Jack’s bean stalk, and what was a bed of leaves on

the pond bottom suddenly changes into a forest of high plants, each

one standing tall and straight and with every leaf extended, as

if its stems were as strong and stiff as ironwood; but if a wave

disturbs the water the graceful undulations of the plant tell the

true story of the pliant stems. There is something that arouses our

admiration when we see one of these pondweeds grown so straight and

tall, often three or four yards high, in order to place its little,

greenish-brown flower-head above the water’s surface. We have spent

hours looking down into such a submerged forest, dreaming and

wondering about the real meaning of such adaptations.

[Illustration:

1, _Flower of a pondweed enlarged, early stage_, 2, _same at later

stage_. ]

Although the stem is flexible, the somewhat curved, enlarged portion

of it just below the flower-head is rigid; it is also more spongy

than the lower part of the stem and is thus fitted to float the

flower. The flower itself is one of the prettiest sights that nature

has to show us through a lens. It is a Maltese cross, the four

reddish stigmas arranged in a solid square at the center; at each

side of this central square is a double-barrelled anther, and outside

of each anther is a queer, little, dipper-shaped, green sepal. When

the anthers open, they push away from the stigmas and throw their

pollen toward the outside. There may be thirty or more of these tiny,

cross-shaped flowers in one flower-head. In the bud, the cup-shaped

sepals shut down closely, exposing the stigmas first, which would

indicate that they ripen before the pollen is shed. The pollen is

white, and is floated from plant to plant on the surface of the

water; often the water for yards will be covered with this living

dust.

LESSON CXXXIII

PONDWEED

_Leading thought_--The pondweed lives entirely below the water;

at blossom time, however, it sends up its flower stems to the

surface of the water, and there sheds its pollen, thus securing

cross-pollenation.

_Method_--As this is primarily a lesson that relates to geography,

the pondweed should be studied where it is growing. It may be studied

in the spring or fall, and the pupils asked to observe the blossoming

which occurs in late July. After the pupils have seen where it grows,

the plants themselves may be studied in an aquarium, or by placing

them in a pail or basin of water. There are confusing numbers of

pondweeds but any of them will do for this lesson. The one described

in the Teacher’s Story is probably _P. perfoliatus_.

_Observations_--1. Where is the pondweed found? Does it ever grow out

of water? Does it ever grow in very deep water? Does it ever grow in

swiftly flowing water?

2. Has the pondweed a root? Does the pondweed need to have water

carried to its leaves, as it would if it were living in the air? What

is one of the chief uses of the roots to the pondweed? Break off a

plant, does it float? Do you think it would float off and die, if it

was not anchored by its root?

3. Compare the stem of pondweed with that of any land plant standing

straight. What is the chief difference? Why does the pondweed not

need a stiff stem to hold it up? Cut the stem across, and see if you

can observe why it floats?

4. Examine the leaves. Are all of them below the surface of the

water? If some float, how do they differ in texture and form from

those submerged? How are they arranged on the stem? Are they set

close together? What is the difference in texture between its leaves

and those of the jewelweed, dock or any other land plant? If any

leaves project out of the water are they different in form and

texture from those submerged? Sketch the leaf, showing its shape, its

edges, and the way it joins the stem.

5. How far below the surface of the water does the pondweed usually

lie? Does it ever rise up to the water’s surface? When? Have you ever

noticed the pondweed in blossom? How does the blossom look on the

water? Can you see the white pollen floating on the surface of the

water? Look down into the water and see the way the pondweed stands

in order to float its blossoms.

6. Study the blossom. Note the stem that bears it. Is the part that

bears the flower enlarged and stiffer than the stem below? Do you

think that this enlarged part of the stem acts like the bob on a

fish-line? Examine a flower cluster with a lens. How many flowers

upon it? Study one flower carefully. Describe the four stigmas at the

center. Describe the anthers arranged around them. Describe the sepal

which protects each anther. When the anthers open do they discharge

the pollen toward or away from the stigmas?

7. What happens after the flowers are pollenated? Do they still

float? What sort of seed-capsule has the pondweed? Do the seeds break

away and float?

* * * * *

“_Again the wild cow-lily floats

Her golden-freighted, tented boats,

In thy cool caves of softened gloom,

O’ershadowed by the whispering reed,

And purple plumes of pickerel weed,

And meadow-sweet in tangled bloom._

“_The startled minnows dart in flocks,

Beneath thy glimmering amber rocks,

If but a zephyr stirs the brake;

The silent swallow swoops, a flash

Of light, and leaves with dainty plash,

A ring of ripples in her wake._”

--“Birch Stream”, ANNA BOYNTON AVERILL.

[Illustration: _Cat-tail flag in blossom._

The staminate flowers are massed at the tip, and the pistillate

flowers which form the “cat-tail” are massed lower down on the stalk.

Photo by Verne Morton.]

THE CAT-TAIL

_Teacher’s Story_

In June and early July, if the cat-tail be closely observed, it will

be seen to have the upper half of the cat’s tail much narrower and

different in shape from the lower half--as if it were covered with

a quite different fur. It seems to be clothed with a fine drooping

fringe of olive-yellow. With the aid of a lens, we can see that this

fringe is a mass of crowded anthers, two or three of them being

attached to the same stalk by a short filament. These anthers are

packed full of pollen, which is sifted down upon the pistillate

flowers below by every breeze; and with every puff of stronger wind,

the pollen is showered over all neighboring flowers to the leeward.

There is not much use in trying to find the pistillate flowers in the

plush of the cat-tail. They have no sepals nor petals, and are so

imbedded in the thick pappus which forms the plush that the search

is hardly worth while for nature-study, unless a microscope is used.

The ovary is rather long, the style slender, and the stigma reaches

out to the cut-plush surface of the cat-tail. The pupils can find

what these flowers are by studying the seed; in fact, the seed does

not differ very much from the flower, except that it is mature and is

browner in color.

[Illustration: _A cat-tail seed with its balloon._]

It is an interesting process to take apart a cat-tail plant; the

lower, shorter leaves surround the base of the plant, giving it size

and strength. All the leaves have the same general shape, but vary

in length. Each leaf consists of the free portion, which is long and

narrow and flat towards its tapering tip but is bent into a trough

as it nears the plant, and the lower portion of the leaf, which

clasps the plant entirely or partially, depending upon whether it

is an outer or inner leaf, and thus adds to its strength. We almost

feel as if these alternate leaves were consciously doing their best

to protect the slender, flower stem. The free part of the leaves is

strengthened by lengthwise veins, and they form edges that never

tear nor break. They are very flexible, and therefore yield to the

wind rather than defy it. If we look at a leaf in cross-section, we

can see the two thick walls strengthened by the framework of stiff

veins which divide the interior into long cells. If we cut the leaf

lengthwise we can see that these long cells are supported by stiff,

coarse partitions.

Where the leaf clasps the stem, it is very stiff and will break

rather than bend. The texture of the leaf is soft and smooth, and

its shade of green is attractive. The length of the leaves is often

greater than that of the blossom stalk, and their graceful curves

contrast pleasantly with its ramrod-like stiffness. It is no wonder

that artists and the decorators have used the cat-tail lavishly as a

model. It is interesting to note that the only portion of the leaves

injured by the wind is the extreme tip.

The cat-tail is adapted for living in swamps where the soil is wet

but not under water all the time. When the land is drained, or when

it is flooded for a considerable time, the cat-tails die out and

disappear. They usually occur in marshy zones along lakes or streams;

and such a zone is always sharply defined by dry land on one side and

water on the other. The cat-tail roots are fine and fibrous and are

especially fitted, like the roots of the tamarack, to thread the mud

of marshy ground and thus gain a foothold. The cat-tails form one of

the cohorts in the phalanx of encroaching plants, like the reeds and

rushes, which surround and, by a slow march of years, finally conquer

and dry up ponds. But in this they overdo the matter, since after a

time the soil becomes too dry for them and they disappear, giving

place to other plants which find there a congenial environment. The

place where I studied the cat-tails as a child is now a garden of joe

pye weed and wild sunflowers.

_Reference_--Plant Life, Coulter.

LESSON CXXXIV

THE CAT-TAIL

_Leading thought_--The cat-tail is adapted to places where the soil

is wet but not under water; its pollen is scattered by the wind, and

its seeds are scattered by wind and water. Its leaves and stalks are

not injured nor broken by the wind.

_Method_--As this is primarily a geography lesson, it should be given

in the field if possible; otherwise the pupils must explore for

themselves to discover the facts. The plant itself can be brought

into the schoolroom for study. When studying the seeds, it is well to

be careful, or the schoolroom and the pupils will be clothed with the

pappus for weeks.

_Observations_--1. Where are the cat-tails found? Is the land on

which they grow under water all the year? At any part of the year? Is

it dry land all the year? What happens to the cat-tails, if the land

on which they grow is flooded for a season? What happens to them, if

the land is drained?

2. How wide a strip do the cat-tails cover, where you have found

them? Are they near a pond or brook or stream? Do they grow out in

the stream? Why do they not extend further inland? What is the

character of the soil on which they grow?

[Illustration: _Cat-tails sending off their seed balloons._

Photo by Verne Morton.]

3. What sort of a root has the cat-tail? Why is this root especially

adapted to the soil where cat-tails grow? Describe the rootstock.

4. _The cat-tail plant._ Are the leaves arranged opposite or

alternate? Tear off a few of the leaves and describe the difference

between the lower and the upper end of a leaf as follows: How do they

differ in shape? Texture? Pliability? Color? Width? Does each leaf

completely encircle the stalk at its base? Of what use is this to the

plant? Of what use is it to have the plant stiffer where the leaves

clasp the stalk? What would happen in a wind storm if this top-heavy,

slender seed stalk was bare and not supported by the leaves? What is

the special enemy of long, tall, slender-leafed plants?

5. Take a single leaf, cut it across near where it joins the main

stalk and also near its tip. Look at the cross-section and see how

the leaf is veined. What do its long veins or ribs do for the leaf?

Split the leaf lengthwise and see what other supports it has. Does

the cat-tail leaf break or tear along its edges easily? Does the wind

injure any part of the leaf?

6. Study the cat-tail flowers the last half of June. Note the part

that will develop into the cat’s tail. Describe the part above it.

Can you see where the pollen comes from? The pistillate flowers which

are in the plush of the cat-tail have no sepals, petals, odor nor

nectar. Do you think that their pollen is carried to them by the

bees? How is it carried?

7. Examine the cat-tail in fall or winter. What has happened to

that part of the stalk above the cat-tail where the anthers grew?

Study two or three of the seeds, and see how they are provided for

traveling. What scatters them? Will the cat-tail seed balloons float?

Would the wind or the water be more likely to carry the cat-tail

seeds to a place where they would grow? Describe the difference

between the cat-tail balloon and the thistle balloon.

8. How crowded do the cat-tail plants grow? How are they arranged to

keep from shading each other? In how many ways is the wind a friend

of the cat-tails?

9. How do the cat-tails help to build up land and make narrower ponds

and streams?

[Illustration: _Daises and grasses._]

LESSON CXXXV

A TYPE LESSON FOR A COMPOSITE FLOWER

_Leading thought_--Many plants have their flowers set close together

to make a mass of color, like the geraniums or the clovers. But there

are other plants where the flowers of one flower-head act like the

members of a family, those at the center doing a certain kind of work

for the production of seed, and those around the edges doing another

kind of work. The sunflower, goldenrod, asters, daisies, cone-flower,

thistle, dandelion, burdock, everlasting, and many other common

flowers have their blossoms arranged in this way. Before any of the

wild-flower members of this family are studied, the lesson on the

garden sunflower should be given. (See Lesson CLXII).

_Method_--These flowers may be studied in the schoolroom with

suggestions for field observations. A lens is almost necessary for

the study of most of these flowers.

_Observations_--1. Can you see that what you call the flower consists

of many flowers set together like a beautiful mosaic? Those at the

center are called disk-flowers; those around the edges banner or

ray-flowers.

2. Note that the flowers around the edges have differently shaped

corollas than those at the center. How do they differ? Why should

these be called the banner flowers? Why should they be called

the ray-flowers? How many banner-flowers are there in the flower

family you are studying? How are the banners arranged to make

the flower-head more attractive? Cut off or pull out all the

banner-flowers and see how the flower-head looks. What do the

banner-flowers hold out their banners for? Is it to attract us or

the insects? Has the banner-flower any stigma or stamens?

3. Study the flowers at the center. Are they open, or are they

unfolded, buds? Can you make a sketch of how they are arranged? Are

any of the florets open? What is the shape and the color of the

corolla? Can you see the stamen-tubes pushing out from some? What

color are the stamen-tubes? Can you see the two-parted stigmas in

others? What color is the pollen. Do the florets at the center or at

the outside of the disk open first? When they first open, do you see

the stamen-tube or the stigma?

4. The flower-heads are protected before they open with overlapping

bracts, which may be compared to a shingled house protecting the

flower family. As the flower-head opens, these bracts are pushed

back beneath it. Describe the shape of these bracts. Are they set

in regular, overlapping rows? Are they rough or smooth? Do they end

bluntly, with a short point, with a long point, with a spine, or a

hook? How do the bracts act when the flower family goes to sleep? Do

they remain after the seeds are ripened?

5. Take a flower-head apart, and examine the florets. Can you see

what part of the floret will be the seed? Is there a fringe of pappus

above it? If so, what will this be on the seed?

6. Study the ripe seeds. How are they scattered? Do they have

balloons? Is the balloon close to the seed? Is it fastened to all

parts of it?

THE GOLDENROD

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: _Goldenrod._]

Once I was called upon to take some children into the field to

study autumn flowers. The day we studied goldenrod, I told them the

following story on the way, and I found that they were pleased with

the fancy and through it were led to see the true purpose of the

goldenrod blossoming:

“There are flowers which live in villages and cities, but people who

also live in villages and cities are so stupid that they hardly know

a flower city when they see it. This morning we are going to visit

a golden city where the people are all dressed in yellow, and where

they live together in families; and the families all live on top of

their little, green, shingled houses, which are set in even rows

along the street. In each of these families, there are some flowers

whose business it is to furnish nectar and pollen and to produce

seeds which have fuzzy balloons; while there are other flowers in

each family which wave yellow banners to all the insects that pass by

and signal them with a code of their own, thus: ‘Here, right this way

is a flower family that needs a bee or a beetle or an insect of some

sort to bring it pollen from abroad, so that it can ripen its seed;

and it will give nectar and plenty of pollen in exchange.’ Of course,

if the flowers could walk around like people, or fly like insects,

they could fetch and carry their own pollen, but as it is, they have

to depend upon insect messengers to do this for them. Let us see who

of us will be the first to guess what the name of this golden city

is, and who will be the first to find it.”

[Illustration: _A street in goldenrod city._]

The children were delighted with this riddle and soon found the

goldenrod city. We examined each little house with its ornate, green

“shingles.” These little houses, looking like cups, were arranged

on the street stem, right side up, in an orderly manner and very

close together; and where each joined the stem, there was a little,

green bract for a doorstep. Living on these houses we found the

flower families, each consisting of a few tubular disk-flowers

opening out like bells, and coming from their centers were the long

pollen-tubes or the yellow, two-parted stigmas. The ray-flowers had

short but brilliant banners; and they, as well as the disk-flowers,

had young seeds with pretty fringed pappus developing upon them. The

banner-flowers were not set so regularly around the edges as in the

asters; but the families were such close neighbors, that the banners

reached from one house to another. And all of the families on all

of the little, green streets were signalling insects, and one boy

said, “They must be making a very loud yellow noise.” We found that

very many insects had responded to this call--honeybees, bumblebees,

mining and carpenter bees, blue-black blister beetles with short

wings and awkward bodies, beautiful golden-green chalcid flies,

soldier beetles and many others; and we found the spherical gall and

the spindle-shaped gall in the stems, and the strange gall up near

the top which grew among the leaves.

Unless one is a trained botanist it is wasted energy to try to

distinguish any but the well-marked species of goldenrod; for,

according to Gray, we have 56 species, the account of which makes

twelve pages of most uninteresting reading in the new Manual. The

goldenrod family is not in the least cliquish, the species have a

habit of interbreeding to the confusion of the systematic botanist.

Matthew’s Field Book serves as well as any for distinguishing the

well-marked species.

LESSON CXXXVI

THE GOLDENROD

_Leading thought_--In the goldenrod the flower-heads or families are

so small that, in order to attract the attention of the insects, they

are set closely together along the stem to produce a mass of color.

_Method_--Bring to the school-room any kind of goldenrod, and give

the lesson on the flowers there. This should be followed by a

field excursion to get as many kinds of goldenrod as possible. The

following observations will bring out differences in well-marked

species:

_Observations_--1. Use Lesson CXXXV to study the flower. How many

banner-flowers in the family? How many disk-flowers? Are the banners

arranged as regularly around the edges as in the asters and daisies?

How are the flower-heads set upon the stems? Which flower-heads open

first--those at the base or at the tip of the stem? Do the upper

stems of the plant blossom before those lower down?

2. Do the stems bearing flowers come from the axils of the leaves?

What is the general shape of the flower branches? Do they come off

evenly at each side, or more at one side? Are the flower branches

long or short? Make a sketch of the general shape of the goldenrod

you are studying.

[Illustration: _Disk-flower and banner-flower of goldenrod._]

3. Is the stem smooth, downy, or covered with bloom? What is its

color? In cross-section, is it circular or angular?

4. What is the shape and form of the edges of the lower leaves? The

upper ones? Are they set with, or without, petioles on the stem? Do

they have a heart-shaped base? Are the leaves smooth or downy? Are

they light, or dark green?

5. _Field notes._ Where do you find the goldenrod growing? Do you

find one kind growing alone or several kinds growing together? Do you

find any growing in the woods? If so, how do they differ in shape

from those in the field?

6. How many kinds of insects do you find visiting goldenrod flowers?

How many kinds of galls do you find on the goldenrod stems and leaves?

7. Study the goldenrods in November. Describe their seeds and how

they are scattered.

* * * * *

“_I am alone with nature,

With the soft September day;

The lifting hills above me,

With goldenrod are gay.

Across the fields of ether

Flit butterflies at play;

And cones of garnet sumac

Glow down the country way._

“_The autumn dandelion

Beside the roadway burns;

Above the lichened boulders

Quiver the plumèd ferns.

The cream-white silk of the milkweed

Floats from its sea-green pod;

From out the mossy rock-seams

Flashes the goldenrod._”

--MARY CLEMMER AMES.

THE ASTERS

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: L]

Let us believe that the scientist who gave to the asters their Latin

name was inspired. Aster means _star_ and these, of all flowers, are

most starlike; and in beautiful constellations they border our fields

and woodsides. The aster combination of colors is often exquisite.

Many have the rays or banners lavender, oar-shaped and set like the

rays of a star around the yellow disk-flowers; these latter send out

long, yellow anther tubes, overflowing with yellow pollen, and add to

the stellar appearance of the flower-head.

“And asters by the brookside make asters in the brook.”

Thus sang H. H. of these beautiful masses of autumn flowers. But

if H. H. had attempted to distinguish the species, she would have

said rather that asters by the brookside make more asters in the

book: for Gray’s Manual assures us that we have 77 species including

widely different forms, varying in size, color and also as to the

environment in which they will grow. They range from the shiftless

woodland species, which has a few whitish ray-flowers hanging

shabbily about its yellow disk and with great, coarse leaves on

long, gawky petioles climbing the zigzag stem, to the beautiful and

dignified New England aster, which brings the glorious purple and

orange of its great flower-heads to decorate our hills in September

and October.

[Illustration: _1, an aster flower-head enlarged_; _2, a

disk-flower_; _3, a banner-flower_.]

Luckily, there are a few species which are fairly well marked, and

still more luckily, it is not of any consequence whether we know the

species or not, so far as our enjoyment of the flowers themselves is

concerned. The outline of this lesson will call the attention of the

pupils to the chief points of difference and likeness in the aster

species, and they will thus learn to discriminate in a general way.

The asters, like the goldenrods, begin to bloom at the tip of the

branches, the flower-heads nearest the central stem, blooming last.

All of the asters are very sensitive, and the flower-heads will close

promptly as soon as they are gathered. The ray or banner-flowers are

pistillate, and therefore develop seed. The seed has attached to its

rim a ring of pappus, and is ballooned to its final destination. In

November, the matured flower-heads are fuzzy, with seeds ready for

invitations from any passing wind to fly whither it listeth.

LESSON CXXXVII

THE ASTERS

_Leading thought_--There are very many different kinds of asters,

and they all have their flowers arranged similarly to those of the

sunflower.

[Illustration: _Asters._]

_Method_--Have the pupils collect as many kinds of asters as

possible, being careful to get the basal leaves and to take notes on

where each kind was found--that is, whether in the woodlands, by the

brooksides or in the open fields. This lesson should follow that on

the sunflower.

_Observations_--1. What was the character of the soil and

surroundings where this aster grew? Were there large numbers of this

kind growing together? Were the flowers wide open when you gathered

them? How soon did they close?

2. How high did the plants stand when growing? Were there many

flowers, or few, on each plant?

3. Study the lower and the upper leaves. Describe each as follows:

the shape, the size, the edges, the way it was joined to the stem.

4. Is the stem many-branched or few? Do the branches bearing flowers

extend in all directions? Are the stems hairy or smooth, and what is

their color?

5. What is the diameter of the single flower-head? What is the color

of the ray-flowers? How many ray or banner-flowers are there? What is

the shape of a single banner as compared with that of a sunflower?

What are the colors of the disk-flowers? Of the pollen? Do the

disk-flowers change color after blossoming?

6. Look at the bracts below the flower-head. Are they all the same

shape? What is their color? Do they have recurved tips or do they

overlap closely? Are they sticky?

7. Take the aster flower-head apart and look at it with a lens. In a

disk-flower, note the young seed, the pappus, the tubular five-parted

corolla, the anther tube and the stigmas. In the ray-flower, find the

young seed, the pappus and the stigma.

8. Watch the bees working on asters, and find where they thrust their

tongues to reach the nectar.

9. Study an aster plant in November, and describe the seeds and how

they are scattered.

[Illustration: _Gathering daisies._

Photo by Verne Morton.]

THE WHITE DAISY

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: _Daisy florets._

1, Disk-flower in pollen-stage;

2, Disk-flower in stigma-stage;

3, Ray-flower. All enlarged. ]

Every child loves this flower, and yet it is not well understood;

it is always at hand for study from June until the frosts have laid

waste the fields. However much enjoyment we get from the study of

this beautiful flower-head, we should study the plant as a weed

also, for it is indeed a pest to those farmers who do not practice

a rotation of crops. Its root is long and tenacious of the soil,

and it ripens many seeds which mingle with the grass seed, and thus

the farmer sows it to his own undoing. The bracts of the involucre,

or the shingles of the daisy-house, are rather long, and have

parchment like margins. They overlap in two or three rows. In the

daisy flower-head, the banner-flowers are white; there may be twenty

or thirty of these, making a beautiful frame for the golden-yellow

disk-flowers. The banner is rather broad, is veined, and toothed at

the tip. The banner-flower has a pistil which shows its two-parted

stigma at the base of the banner, and it matures a seed. The

disk-flowers are brilliant yellow, tubular, rather short, with the

five points of the corolla curling back. The anther-tubes and the

pollen are yellow, so are the stigmas. The arrangement of the buds at

the center is exceedingly pretty. The flowers develop no pappus, and

therefore the seeds have no balloons. They depend upon the ignorance

and helplessness of man to scatter their seeds far and wide with the

grass and clover seed, which he sows for his own crops. It was thus

that it came to America, and in this manner still continues to flaunt

its banners in our meadows and pastures. The white daisy is not a

daisy, but a chrysanthemum. It has never been called by this name

popularly, but has at least twenty other common names, among them the

ox-eye daisy, moon-penny, and herb-Margaret.

LESSON CXXXVIII

THE WHITE DAISY

_Leading thought_--The white-daisy is not a single flower but is made

up of many little flowers and should be studied by the outline given

in Lesson CXXXV.

[Illustration: _A daisy meadow._]

THE YELLOW DAISY, OR BLACK-EYED SUSAN

_Teacher’s Story_

These beautiful, showy flowers have rich contrasts in their color

scheme. The ten to twenty ray flowers wave rich, orange banners

around the cone of purple-brown disk-flowers. The banners are notched

and bent downward at their tips; each banner-flower has a pistil,

and develops a seed. The disk-flowers are arranged in a conical,

button-like center; the corollas are pink-purple at the base of the

tube, but their five recurved, pointed lobes are purple-brown. The

anther-tube is purple-brown and the stigmas show the same color; but

the pollen is brilliant orange, and adds much to the beauty of the

rich, dark florets when it is pushed from the anther-tubes. There is

no pappus developed, and the seeds are carried as are the seeds of

the white daisy, by being harvested with the seeds of grain.

[Illustration]

The stem is strong and erect; the bracts of the involucre, or

“shingles”, are long, narrow and hairy, the lower ones being longer

and wider than those above; they all spread out flat, or recurve

below the open flower-head. In blossoming, first the ray-flowers

spread wide their banners; then the flowerets around the base of the

cone open and push out their yellow pollen through the brown tubes;

then day by day the blossoming circle climbs toward the apex--a

beautiful way of blossoming upward.

LESSON CXXXIX

THE BLACK-EYED SUSAN

_Leading thought_--This flower should be studied by the outline given

in Lesson CXXXV.

[Illustration: _Disk-flower and ray-flower._]

THE THISTLE

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: O]

On looking at the thistle from its own standpoint, we must

acknowledge it to be a beautiful and wonderful plant. It is like a

knight of old encased in armor and with lance set, ready for the

fray. The most impressive species is the great pasture, or bull,

thistle (_C. pumilis_), which has a blossom-head three inches across.

This is not so common as the lance-leaved thistle, which ornaments

roadsides and fence corners, where it may remain undisturbed for

the necessary second year of growth before it can mature its seeds.

The most pernicious species, from the farmer’s standpoint, is the

Canada thistle. Its roots are perennial, and they invade garden,

grain field and meadow. They creep for yards in all directions, just

deep enough to be sure of moisture, and send up new plants here and

there, especially if the main stalk is cut off. Roots severed by the

plow, send up shoots from both of the broken parts. Not so with the

common thistle, which has a single main root, with many fibrous and

clustered branches but with no side shoots.

The stalk of the lance-leaved thistle is strong and woody, and is

closely hugged by pricky leaf stems, except for a few inches above

the root. The leaves are placed alternately on the stalk; they are

deep green, covered above with rough and bristling hairs, and when

young are covered on the under side with soft, gray wool which falls

away later. The spines grow on the edges of the leaves, which are

deeply lobed and are also somewhat wavy and ruffled, thus causing

the savage spears to meet the enemy in any direction. The ribs and

veins are without spines. Small buds or branches may be found at the

axils of the leaves; and if a plant is beheaded, those axiliary buds

nearest the top of the stem will grow vigorously.

[Illustration: _Lance-leaved thistle._]

The thistle flowers are purple in color and very fragrant; they grow

in single heads at the summit of the stalk, and from the axils of the

upper leaves. The topmost heads open first. Of the individual flowers

in the head, those of the outer rows first mature and protrude their

pistils; the pollen grains are white. In each flower, the corolla is

tube-shaped and purple, parting into five fringelike lobes at the

top, and fading to white at its nectar-filled base.

The stamens have dark purple anthers, united in a tube in which

their pollen is discharged. The pistil, ripening later, shoves out

the pollen with its stigma, which at first is blunt at the end, its

two-parted lips so tightly held together that not a grain of its

own flower’s pollen can be taken. But when thrust far out beyond

the anther-tube, the two-parted stigma opens to receive the pollen

which is brought by the many winged visitors; for of all flowers, the

thistles with their abundant nectar are the favorites of insects.

Butterflies of many species, moths, beetles and bees--especially the

bumblebees--are the happy guests of the thistle blooms.

The thistles believe in large families; a single head of the

lance-leaved thistle has been known to have 116 seeds. The seeds are

oblong, pointed, little akenes, with hard shells. Very beautiful and

wonderful is the pappus of the thistle; it is really the calyx of the

flower, its tube being a narrow collar, and the lobes are split up

into the silken floss. At the larger end of the seed is a circular

depression with a tiny hub at its center; into this ring, and around

the knob, is fitted the collar which attaches the down to the seed.

Hold the balloon between the eye and the light, and it is easy to

see that the down is made of many-branched plumes which interlace

and make it more buoyant. When first taken from its crowded position

on the flower-head, the pappus surrounds the corolla in a straight,

close tube; but if placed for just a few moments in the sun, the

threads spread, the filmy branchlets open out, and a fairy parachute

is formed, with the seed hanging beneath; if no breath of air touches

it while spreading, it will sometimes form a perfect funnel; when

blown upon, some of the silken threads lose their places on the rim

and rise to the center. When driven before the breeze, this balloon

will float for a long distance. When it falls, it lets go of the seed

as the wind moves it along the rough surface of the ground, and when

it is thus unburdened the down fluffs out in every direction, making

a perfect globe.

[Illustration: _A floret from a thistle flower-head._]

For the first season after the seed has rooted, the thistle develops

only rosettes, meanwhile putting down roots and becoming permanently

established. The next season, the flowers and seeds are developed,

and then the plant dies. Would that this fact were true of the Canada

thistle; but that, unfortunately, is perennial, and its persistent

roots can only be starved out by keeping the stalks cut to the

ground for the entire season. This thistle trusts to its extensively

creeping rootstocks more than to its seeds for retaining its foothold

and for spreading. While it develops many seed balloons, a large

number of its seeds are infertile and will not grow.

LESSON CXL

THE COMMON, OR LANCE-LEAVED, THISTLE

_Leading thought_--The thistle is covered with sharp spines, and

these serve to protect it from grazing animals. It has beautiful

purple flowers, arranged in heads similar to those of the sunflower.

[Illustration: _The Canada thistle._

Drawing by W. C. Baker.]

_Method_--A thistle plant brought into the schoolroom--root and

all--and placed in water will serve well for this lesson. The

questions should be given the pupils as to where thistles are found.

Any thistle will do for the lesson.

_Observations_--1. Where do you find the thistles growing? Do you

find more than one species growing thickly together? Do you find any

of the common thistles growing in soil which has been cultivated this

season?

2. Describe the stalk, is it smooth? Is it weak or strong and woody?

What sort of root has it?

3. Do the leaves grow alternately or opposite? Are they smooth or

downy on one or both sides? Do the spines grow around the margins, or

on the leaves and veins? Are the leaf edges flat, or wavy and ruffled?

4. How does this affect the direction in which the spines point? Are

the leaves entire or deeply lobed? Have they petioles, or are they

attached directly to the stalk?

5. Note if any buds or small branches nestle in the axils of the

lower leaves. What effect does cutting the main stalk seem to have on

each side shoot?

6. Do the flower-heads of the thistle grow singly or in clusters? Do

they come from the summit of the stalk, or do they branch from its

sides? Which blossom-heads open first--the topmost or those lowest on

the stalk? Are the flowers fragrant? What insects do you most often

see visiting thistle blossoms for pollen or nectar? Study the thistle

flower according to Lesson CXXXV.

7. Carefully study a thistle balloon. How is the floss attached to

the seed? Is it attached to the smaller, or the larger end? Hold

the thistle balloon between your eye and the light. Does the down

consist of single separate hairs, or have they many fine branches?

How is the down arranged when all the flowers are packed together in

the thistle-head? Take a seed from among its closely packed fellows

in the thistle-head, and put it in the sun or in a warm, dry place

where it cannot blow away. How long does it take for the balloon to

open out? What is its shape? Is there any down at the center of the

balloon or is it arranged in a funnel-shaped ring? Can you find a

perfectly globular thistle balloon with the seeds still attached to

it? How far do you think the thistle balloons might travel?

8. If a thistle seed finds a place for planting during the autumn,

how does the young plant look the next season? Describe the thistle

rosette. What growth does it make the second summer? What happens to

it then?

9. Why can you not cultivate out the Canada thistles as you can the

other species?

[Illustration: _A successful life._]

THE BURDOCK

TEACHER’S STORY

Psychologists say that all young things are selfish, and the young

burdock is a shining example of this principle. Its first leaves are

broad and long, with long petioles by means of which they sprawl out

from the growing stem in every direction, covering up and choking out

all the lesser plants near them. In fact, the burdock remains selfish

in this respect always, for its great basal leaves see to it that no

other plants shall get the good from the soil near its own roots. One

wonders at first how a plant with such large leaves can avoid shading

itself; but there are some people very selfish toward the world who

are very thoughtful of their own families, and the burdock belongs

to this class. We must study carefully the arrangement of its leaves

in order to understand its cleverness. The long basal leaves are

stretched out flat; the next higher, somewhat smaller ones are lifted

at a polite angle so as not to stand in their light. This courtesy

characterizes all the leaves of the plant, for each higher leaf is

smaller and has a shorter petiole, which is lifted at a narrower

angle from the stalk; and all the leaves are so nicely adjusted as

to form a pyramid, allowing the sunlight to sift down to each part.

While some of the uppermost leaves may be scarcely more than an inch

long, the lower ones are very large. They are pointed at the tip and

wide at the base; where the leaf joins the petiole it is irregular,

bordered for a short distance on each side with a vein, and then

finished with a “flounce”, which is so full that it even reaches

around the main stem--another device for getting more sunlight for

itself and shutting it off from plants below. On the lower side,

the leaf is whitish and feltlike to the touch; above it is a raw

green, often somewhat smooth and shining. The leaf is in quality

poor, coarse and flimsy, and it hangs--a web of shoddy--on its strong

supporting ribs; lucky for it that its edges are slightly notched

and much ruffled, else they would be torn and tattered. The petiole

and stems are felty in texture; the petiole is grooved, and expands

at its base to grasp the stems on both sides with a certain vicious

pertinacity which characterizes the whole plant.

The flower-heads come off at the axils of the upper leaves, and

are often so crowded that the leaf is almost lost to sight. It is

amazing to behold the number of flower-heads which develop on one

thrifty plant. The main stem and the pyramid of lower branching

stems, are often crowded with the green balls beset with bracts which

are hooked, spiny, and which hold safe the flowers. This composite

flower-house is a fortress bristling with spears which are not

changed to peaceful pruning-hooks, although they are hooked at the

sharp end, every hook turning toward the flowers at the center; the

lower bracts are shorter and stand out at right angles, while the

others come off at lesser angles, graded so as to form a globular

involucre--a veritable block-house. The flower might be a tidbit for

the grazing animal; but, if so, he has never discovered it, for these

protective hooks have kept him from ever enjoying a taste. The bracts

protect, not only by hooks at the tip, but by spreading out at the

bases so as to make a thickly battened dwelling for the flower-family.

[Illustration: _A burdock floret with hooked bract._]

But if we tear open one of these little fortresses, we are well

repaid in seeing the quite pretty florets. The corollas are long,

slender, pink tubes, with five, pointed lobes. The anther-tubes are

purple, the pistils and the stigmas white; the stigmas are broad and

feathery when they are dusting out the pollen from the anther-tubes,

but later they change to very delicate pairs of curly Y’s. The young

seed is shining white, and the pappus forms a short, white fluff at

the upper margin; but this is simply a family trait, for the burdock

seeds never need to be ballooned to their destination; they have

a surer method of travel. When in full bloom, the burdock flower

heads are very pretty and the skillful child weaver makes them into

beautiful baskets. When I was a small girl, I made whole sets of

furniture from these flowers; and then, becoming more ambitious, wove

some into a coronet which I wore proudly for a few short hours, only

to discover later, from my own experience, that great truth which

Shakespeare voiced,--“uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.”

In winter, the tough, gray stalks of the burdock still stand;

although they may partially break, if they can thus better accomplish

their purpose,--always falling toward the path. In this way, they

may be sure of inserting the hooks of their seed storehouses into

the clothing or covering of the passer-by; and when one gets a hold,

mayhap a dozen others will hold hands and follow. If they catch

the tail of horse or cow, then indeed they must feel their destiny

fulfilled; for the animal, switching about with its uneasy appendage,

threshes out the seeds, and unheedingly plants them by trampling

them into the ground. Probably some of the livestock of our Pilgrim

Fathers came to America thus burdened; for the burdock is a European

weed, although now it flourishes too successfully in America. The

leaves of the burdock are bitter, and are avoided by grazing animals.

Fortunately for us, certain flies and other insects like their bitter

taste, and lay eggs upon them, which hatch into larvæ that live all

their lives between the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf. Often

the leaves are entirely destroyed by the minute-larvæ of a fly, which

live together cozily between these leaf blankets, giving the leaves

the appearance of being afflicted with large blisters.

The burdocks have long vigorous taproots, and it is therefore

difficult to eradicate them without much labor. But persistent

cutting off the plant at the root will, if the cut be deep, finally

discourage this determined weed.

[Illustration: _Baskets made from the burdock flower-heads._]

LESSON CXLI

THE BURDOCK

_Leading thought_--The burdock wins because its great leaves shade

down plants in its vicinity, and also by having taproots. It scatters

its seed by hooking its seed-heads fast to the passer-by.

_Method_--Study a healthy burdock plant in the field, to show how it

shades down other plants and does not shade itself. The flowers and

the seed-heads may be brought into the schoolroom for detailed study.

_Observations_--1. Note a young plant. How much space does its leaves

cover? Is anything growing beneath them? How are its leaves arranged

to cover so much space? Of what advantage is this to the plant?

2. Study the full-grown plant. How are the lower leaves arranged? At

what angles to the stalks do the petioles lie? Are the upper leaves

as large as the lower ones? Do they stand at different angles to the

stalk?

3. Study the arrangement of leaves on a burdock plant, to discover

how it manages to shade down other plants with its leaves and yet

does not let its own upper leaves shade those below.

[Illustration: _Burdock blossoming._]

4. Study a lower and an upper leaf. What is the general shape? What

peculiarity where it joins the petiole? What is the texture of the

leaf above and below? The color? Describe the petiole and how it

joins the stem.

5. Where do the flowers appear on the stem? Are there many flowers

developed? Count all the flower-heads on a thrifty burdock.

6. The burdock has its flowers gathered into families, like the

sunflower and thistle. Describe the burdock flower-family according

to Lesson CXXXV.

7. What insects visit the burdock flowers? Can you make baskets from

the flower-heads?

8. Study the burdock again in winter, and see what has happened to

it. Describe the seed and the seed-heads. How are the seed-heads

carried far away from the parent plant? How many seeds in a single

“house?” How do they escape?

9. Write the biography of a burdock plant which came to America as a

seed, attached to the tail of a Shetland pony.

PRICKLY LETTUCE, A COMPASS PLANT

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: _A common compass plant._

Photo by Cyrus Crosby.]

The more we know of plants, the more we admire their ways of

attaining success in a world where it is only attained by a species

after a long struggle. While plants may not be conscious of their

own efforts for living on successfully, they have developed them

just the same, and they merit our admiration perhaps even more,

than as if their strategy was the result of conscious thought. The

prickly lettuce has a story to tell us about success attained by the

prevention of exhaustion from thirst. In fact, the success of this

weed depends much upon its being able to live in dry situations and

withstand the long droughts of late summer. The pale green stems grow

up slim and tall, bearing leaves arranged alternately and from all

sides, since between two, one of which is exactly above the other,

two other leaves are borne. Thus, if the leaves stood out naturally,

the shape of the whole plant would be a somewhat blunt pyramid. But

during the hot, dry weather, the leaves do not stand out straight

from the stem; instead, they twist about so that they are practically

all in one plane, and usually point north and south, although this

is not invariably the case. The way this twisting is accomplished

is what interests us in this plant. The long spatulate leaf has a

thick, fleshy midrib, and at the base are developed two pointed lobes

which clasp the stalk. The leaf is soft and leathery and always seems

succulent, because it retains its moisture; it has a ruffled edge

near its base, which gives it room for turning without tearing its

margin. Each leaf tips over sidewise toward the stem, and as far as

necessary to bring one edge uppermost. Thus the sun cannot reach its

upper surface to pump water from its tissues. The ruffled margin of

the upper edge is pulled out straight when the leaf stands in this

position, while the lower margin is more ruffled than ever. Thus,

it stands triumphantly, turning edgewise to the sun, retaining its

moisture and thriving when cultivated plants are dry and dying.

It also has another “anchor to the windward.” A plant so full of

juice would prove attractive food for cattle when pastures are dry.

The leaves of this perhaps escape, because each has a row of very

sharp spines on the lower side of the midrib. At first we might

wonder why they are thus placed; but if we watch a grazing animal,

as a cow, reach out her tongue to pull the herbage into her mouth,

we see that these spines are placed where they will do the most

efficient work. The teasel has the same clever way of warning off

meddlesome tongues. The prickly lettuce also has spines on its stem,

and the leaves are toothed with spines at their points.

LESSON CXLII

PRICKLY LETTUCE

_Leading thought_--The sunshine sets the machinery in the

leaf-factories going, and incidentally pumps up water from the soil,

which pours out into the air from the leaves; but if the soil is dry

the pump works just the same, and the plant thus robbed of its water

soon withers and dies. The young plants of wild lettuce prevent the

sun from pumping them dry during drought, by turning the edges of

their leaves toward the sun, and thus not exposing the leaf surface

to its rays. The leaves thus lifted stand in one plane. They are

usually directed north and south. The lettuce also has spines to

protect it from grazing animals.

_Method_--The lettuce should be studied in the field, and is a good

subject for a lesson in late summer or September. This lesson should

supplement the one on transpiration. The young plants show this

arrangement of the leaves best. The flowers may be studied by the

outline given in Lesson CXXXV.

_Observations_--1. Where does the prickly lettuce grow? What sort of

a stem has it? How are the leaves arranged on the stem?

2. If the leaves stood straight out from the stem, what would be the

shape of the plant? How do the leaves stand? Is their upper surface

exposed to the rays of the sun? Which portion of the leaf is turned

toward the sun?

3. If the leaves turn sideways and stand in one plane, do they stand

north and south or east and west. How does the edgewise position of

the leaf protect the plant during drought? Why does any plant wither

during drought? If the leaves of the lettuce should extend east and

west instead of north and south, would they get more sun? (See lesson

on the Sun.)

4. What is the shape of the lettuce leaf? How does it clasp the

stalk? How is the base shaped so that the leaf can turn without

tearing its edges? Sketch a leaf thus turned fully, showing how it is

done. Does the leaf turn toward the stem or away from it?

5. How are the leaves protected against grazing cattle? How does the

cow use her tongue to help bring herbage to her mouth? How are the

prickly spines placed on the lettuce leaf, to make the cow’s tongue

uncomfortable? Sketch a leaf showing its shape, its venation and its

spines.

THE DANDELION

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: T]

This is the most persistent and indomitable of weeds, yet I think

the world would be very lonesome without its golden flower-heads and

fluffy seed-spheres. Professor Bailey once said that dandelions in

his lawn were a great trouble to him until he learned to love them,

and then the sight of them gave him keenest pleasure. And Lowell says

of this “dear common flower”--

“_Tis Spring’s largess, which she scatters now

To rich and poor alike, with lavish hand;

Though most hearts never understand

To take it at God’s value, and pass by

The offered wealth with unrewarded eye._”

It is very difficult for us, when we watch the behavior of the

dandelions, not to attribute to them thinking power, they have so

many ways of getting ahead of us. I always look at a dandelion and

talk to it as if it were a real person. One spring when all the

vegetables in my garden were callow weaklings, I found there, in

their midst, a dandelion rosette with ten great leaves spreading out

and completely shading a circle ten inches in diameter; I said, “Look

here, Madam, this is my garden!” and I pulled up the squatter. But I

could not help paying admiring tribute to the taproot, which lacked

only an inch of being a foot in length. It was smooth, whitish,

fleshy and, when cut, bled a milky juice showing that it was full of

food; and it was as strong from the end-pull as a whipcord; it also

had a bunch of rather fine rootlets about an inch below the surface

of the soil and an occasional rootlet farther down; and then I said

“Madam, I beg your pardon; I think this was your garden and not mine.”

Dandelion leaves afford an excellent study in variation of form. The

edges of the leaf are notched in a peculiar way, so that the lobes

were, by some one, supposed to look like lions’ teeth in profile;

thus the plant was called in France “dents-de-lion” (teeth of the

lion), and we have made from this the name dandelion. The leaves are

so bitter that grazing animals do not like to eat them, and thus the

plants are safe even in pastures.

The hollow stem of the blossom-head from time immemorial has been a

joy to children. It may be made into a trombone, which will give to

the enterprising teacher an opportunity for a lesson in the physics

of sound, since by varying its length, the pitch is varied. The

dandelion-curls, which the little girls enjoy making, offer another

lesson in physics--that of surface tension, too difficult for little

girls to understand. But the action of this flower stem is what makes

the dandelion seem so endowed with acumen. If the plant is in a lawn,

the stem is short, indeed so short that the lawn-mower cannot cut off

the flower-head. In this situation it will blossom and seed within

two inches of the ground; but if the plant is in a meadow or in other

high grass, the stem lifts up sometimes two feet or more, so that

its blossom may be seen by bees and its seeds be carried off by the

breeze without let or hindrance from the grass. We found two such

stems each measuring over 30 inches in height.

Before a dandelion head opens, the stem, unless very short, is likely

to bend down to protect the young flowers, but the night before it is

to bloom it straightens up; after the blossoms have matured it may

again bend over, but straightens up when the seeds are to be cast off.

It often requires an hour for a dandelion head to open in the morning

and it rarely stays open longer than five or six hours; it may

require another hour to close. Usually not more than half the flowers

of the head open the first day, and it may require several days for

them all to blossom. After they have all bloomed and retired into

their green house and put up the shutters, it may take them from one

to two weeks to perfect their seeds.

In the life of the flower-head the involucre, or the house in which

the flower family lives, plays an important part. The involucral

bracts, in the row set next to the flowers, are sufficiently long to

cover the unopened flowers; the bracts near the stem are shorter and

curl back, making a frill. In the freshly opened flower-head, the

buds at the middle all curve slightly toward the center, each bud

showing a blunt, five-lobed tip which looks like the tips of five

fingers held tightly together. The flowers in the outer row blossom

first, straightening back and pushing the banner outward; and now

we can see that the five lobes in the bud are the five notches at

the end of the banner. All the flowers in the dandelion-head have

banners, but those at the center, belonging to the younger flowers,

have shorter and darker yellow banners. After a banner is unfurled,

there pushes out from its tubular base a darker yellow anther-tube;

the five filaments below the tube are visible with a lens. A little

later, the stigma-ramrod pushes forth from the tube, its fuzzy sides

acting like a brush to bring out all the pollen; later it rises far

above the anther-tube and quirls back its stigma-lobes, as if every

floret were making a dandelion curl of its own. The lens shows us,

below the corolla, the seed. The pappus is not set in a collar upon

the dandelion seed, as it is in the aster seed; there is a short stem

above the seed which is called the “beak” and the pappus is attached

to this.

Every day more blossoms open; but on dark, rainy days and during

the night the little green house puts up its shutters around the

flower-family, and if the bracts are not wide enough to cover the

growing family, the banners of the outer flowers have thick or

brownish portions along their lower sides which serve to calk the

chinks. It is interesting to watch the dandelion stars close as the

night falls, and still more interesting to watch the sleepy-heads

awaken long after the sun is up in the morning; they often do not

open until eight o’clock. The dandelion flower-families are very

economical of their pollen and profuse nectar, and do not expose them

until the bees and other insects are abroad ready to make morning

calls.

After all the florets of a dandelion family have blossomed,

they retire again into their green house and devote themselves

to perfecting their seeds. They may stay thus in retirement for

several days, and during this period the flower stem often grows

industriously; and when the shutters of the little green house are

again let down, what a different appearance has the dandelion family!

The seeds with their balloons are set so as to make an exquisite,

filmy globe; and now they are ready to coquette with the wind and,

one after another, all the balloons go sailing off. One of these

seeds is well worth careful observation through a lens. The balloon

is attached to the top of the beak as an umbrella frame is attached

to the handle, except that the “ribs” are many and fluffy; while

the dandelion youngster, hanging below, has an overcoat armed with

grappling hooks, which enable it to cling fast when the balloon

chances to settle to the ground.

Father Tabb says of the dandelion,--“With locks of gold today;

tomorrow silver gray; then blossom bald.” But not the least beautiful

part of the dandelion is this blossom-bald head after all the seeds

are gone; it is like a mosaic, with a pit at the center of each

figure where the seed was attached. There is an interesting mechanism

connected with this receptacle. Before the seeds are fully out this

soon-to-be-bald head is concave at the center, later it becomes

convex, and the mechanism of this movement liberates the seeds which

are embedded in it.

[Illustration: _1, Floret of dandelion_; _2, seed of dandelion_.

_Both enlarged._]

Each freshly opened corolla-tube is full to overflowing with

nectar, and much pollen is developed; therefore, the dandelion has

many kinds of insect visitors. But perhaps the bee shows us best

where the nectar is found; she thrusts her tongue down into the

little tubes below the banners, working very rapidly from floret to

floret. The dandelion stigmas have a special provision for securing

cross-pollenation; and if that fails, to secure pollen from their

own flower-family; and now the savants have found that the pistils

can also grow seeds without any pollen from anywhere. It surely is a

resourceful plant!

The following are the tactics by which the dandelion conquers us and

takes possession of our lands: (a) It blossoms early in the spring

and until snow falls, producing seed for a long season. (b) It is

broadminded as to its location, and flourishes on all sorts of soils.

(c) It thrusts its long tap-roots down into the soil, and thus gets

moisture and food not reached by other plants. (d) Its leaves spread

out from the base, and crowd and shade many neighboring plants out

of existence. (e) It is on good terms with many insects, and so has

plenty of pollen carriers to insure strong seeds; it can also develop

seeds from its own pollen, and as a last resort it can develop seeds

without any pollen. (f) It develops almost numberless seeds, and the

wind scatters them far and wide and they thus take possession of new

territory. (g) It forms vigorous leaf-rosettes in the fall, and thus

is able to begin growth early in the spring.

LESSON CXLIII

THE DANDELION

_Leading thought_--The dandelions flourish despite our determined

efforts to exterminate them. Let us study the way in which they

conquer.

_Method_--The study should be made with the dandelions on the school

grounds. Questions should be given, a few at a time, and then let the

pupils consult the dandelions as to the answers.

The dandelion is a composite flower and may be studied according to

Lesson CXXXV. All the florets have banners or rays.

_Observations_--1. Where do you find dandelions growing? If they are

on the lawn, how long are their blossom or seed stems? If in a meadow

or among high grass, how long is the blossom stem? Why is this? Is

the blossom stem solid or hollow? Does it break easily?

2. Dig up a dandelion root and then explain why this weed withstands

drought, and why it remains, when once planted.

3. Sketch or describe a dandelion leaf. Why was the plant named

“lion’s teeth?” How are the leaves arranged about the root? How does

this help the dandelion and hinder other plants? In what condition do

the leaves pass the winter under the snow? Why is this useful to the

plant?

4. Take a blossom not yet open. Note the bracts that cover the

unopened flower-head. Note the ones below and describe them.

5. Note the dandelion flower-head just open. Which flowers open

first? How do the buds look at the center? Do all the florets have

banners? Are the banners of the central florets the same color and

length as of those outside? Examine a floret and note the young seed.

Is the pappus attached to it or above it?

6. What happens to the dandelion blossom on rainy or dark days? How

is the dandelion family hidden during the rain? When does it appear

again? Do you think that this has anything to do with the insect

visitors? Do bees and other insects gather nectar during dark or

rainy days?

7. Note at what hour the dandelions on the lawn go to sleep and at

what hour they awaken on pleasant days?

8. Make notes on a certain dandelion plant three times a day: How

long does it take the dandelion head to open fully on a sunny

morning? How long does it remain open? How long does it take the

flower-head to close? What proportion of the flowers in the head,

blossoms during the first day? What proportion of the flowers in

the head, blossoms during the second day? How long before they all

blossom? Does the flower-head remain open longer in the afternoon

on some days than on others, equally sunny? Does the stem bend over

before the blossom-head opens?

9. After all the little flowers of a dandelion family have blossomed,

what happens to it? How long does it stay shut up in its house?

Measure the stem, and see if it stretches up during the time. How

does the dandelion look when it opens again? Look at a dandelion-head

full of seed, and see how the seeds are arranged to make a perfect

globe. Shake the seeds off and examine the “bald head” with a lens.

Can you see where the seeds were set?

10. Examine a dandelion seed with a lens. Describe the balloon, the

beak or stem of the balloon, and the seed. Why do you suppose the

seed has these hooks?

11. How early in the spring, and how late in the fall, do dandelions

blossom?

12. Watch a bee when she is working on a dandelion flower, and see

where she thrusts her tongue and which flowers she probes.

13. Tell all the things that you can remember which the dandelion

does in order to live and thrive in spite of us.

14. What use do we make of the dandelions?

THE PEARLY EVERLASTING

_Teacher’s Story_

These wraithlike flowers seem never to have been alive, rather than

to have been endowed with everlasting life. The cattle share this

opinion and would no sooner eat these plants than if they were made

of cotton batting. The stems are covered with white felt; the long

narrow leaves are very pale green, and when examined with a lens,

look as if they were covered with a layer of cotton which disguises

all venation except the thick midrib. The leaves are set alternate,

and become shorter and narrower and whiter toward the top of the

plant, where they are obliged to give their sustenance to the flower

stems borne in their axils. All this cottony covering has its uses

to prevent the evaporation of water from the plant during the long

droughts. The everlasting never has much juice in its leaves but what

it has, it keeps.

[Illustration: _The pistillate flower-heads of the pearly

everlasting._

Photo by Verne Morton.]

The flower stems are rather stout, woolly, soft and pliable.

They come off at the axils of the threadlike whitish leaves. The

pistillate and the staminate flowers are borne on separate plants,

and usually in separate patches. The pistillate, or seed-developing,

plants have globular flower buds, almost egg-shaped, with a fluffy

lemon-yellow knob at the tip; this fluff is made up of stigmas

split at the end. At the center of this tassel of lemon-yellow

stigma-plush, may often be seen a depression; at the bottom of this

well, there are three or four perfect flowers. One of the secrets

of the everlasting is, evidently, that it does not put all of its

eggs in one basket; it has a few perfect flowers for insurance. This

pistillate or seed-bearing flower has a long, delicate tube, ending

in five needlelike points and surrounded by a pretty pappus. The

bracts of the flower-cluster seem to cling around the base of the

beautiful yellow tassel of fertile flowers, as if to emphasize it.

They look as if they were made of white Japanese paper, and when

looked at through a lens, they resemble the petals of a water lily.

They are dry to begin with, so they cannot wither.

[Illustration: 1, _Pistillate floret_, 2, _pappus_, 3, _staminate

floret_. _All enlarged._]

The staminate, or pollen-bearing, flower-heads are like white birds’

nests, the white bracts forming the nest and the little yellow

flowers the eggs. The flower has a tubular, five-pointed starlike

corolla, with five stamens joined in a tube at the middle, standing

up like a barrel from the corolla. The anther-tube is ocher-yellow

with brown stripes, and is closed at first with five little flaps,

making a cone at the top. Later, the orange-yellow pollen bulges

out as if it were boiling over. The flowers around the edges of the

flower-disk open first.

LESSON CXLIV

THE PEARLY EVERLASTING

_Leading thought_--There are often found growing on the poor soil in

dry pastures, clumps of soft, whitish plants which are never eaten by

cattle. There is so little juice in them that they retain their form

when dried and thus have won their name.

_Method_--The pupils should see these plants growing, so that they

may observe the staminate and pistillate flowers, which are on

separate plants and in separate clumps. If this is not practicable,

bring both kinds of flowers into the schoolroom for study.

[Illustration: _The staminate flower-head of pearly everlasting._]

_Observations_--1. Where does the pearly everlasting grow? Do cattle

eat it? Why is this? What is the general color of the plant? What is

the stem covered with?

2. What is the shape of the leaves? How are they veined? With

what are they covered? How are they placed on the stem? What is

the relative size of the lower and upper leaves? Why is there a

difference?

3. Do you see some plants which have egg-shaped blossoms, each with

a yellow knob at the tip? Take one apart and look at it with a lens,

and see what forms the white part and what forms the yellow knob. Do

you see other flowers that look like little white birds’ nests filled

with yellow eggs? Look at one of them with a lens, and tell what kind

of a flower it is.

4. Except that the pistillate and staminate flowers are on different

plants, the flowers of the pearly everlasting should be studied

according to Lesson CXXXV.

5. What do you know of the edelweiss of the Alps? How does it

resemble the pearly everlasting? Do you know another common kind of

everlasting called pussy’s toes?

THE JEWELWEED, OR TOUCH-ME-NOT

_Teacher’s Story_

“_Cup bearer to the summer, this floral Hebe shy

Is loitering by the brookside as the season passes by;

And she’s strung her golden ewers with spots of brown all

flecked,

O’er dainty emerald garments, like a queen with gems

bedecked._

_She brooks not condescension from mortal hand, you know,

For, touch her e’er so gently, impatiently she’ll throw

Her tiny little jewels, concealed in pockets small

Of her dainty, graceful garment, and o’er the ground they

fall._”

--RAY LAURENCE.

[Illustration: J]

Jewels for the asking at the brookside, pendant jewels of pale-gold

or red-gold and of strange design! And the pale and the red are

different in design, although of the same general pattern. The pale

ones seem more simple and open, and we may study them first. If the

flowers of the jewelweed have been likened to ladies’ earrings, then

the bud must be likened to the old-fashioned ear-bob; for it is done

up in the neatest little triangular knob imaginable, with a little

curly pig-tail appendage at one side, and protected above by two

cup-shaped sepals, their pale green seeming like enamel on the pale

gold of the bud. It is worth while to give a glance at the stem from

which this jewel hangs; it is so delicate and so gracefully curved;

and just above the twin sepals is a tiny green bract, elongate, and

following the curve of the stem as if it were just a last artistic

touch; and though the flowers fall, this little bract remains to keep

guard above the seed-pod.

It would take a Yankee, very good at guessing, to make out the parts

of this flower, so strange are they in form. We had best begin by

looking at the blossom from the back side. The two little, greenish

sepals are lifted back like butterfly wings, and we may guess from

their position that there are two more sepals, making four in all.

These latter are yellow; one is notched at the tip and is lifted

above the flower; the other is below and is made into a wide-mouthed

triangular sac, ending in a quirl at the bottom, which, if we test

it, we shall find is the nectary, very full of sweetness. Now, if we

look the flower in the face, perhaps we can find the petals; there

are two of them “holding arms” around the mouth of the nectar-sac.

And stiff arms they are too, two on a side, for each petal is

two-lobed, the front lobe being very short and the posterior lobe

widening out below into a long frill, very convenient for the bee

to cling to, if she has learned the trick, when prospecting the

nectar-sac behind for its treasure. The way this treasure-sac

swings backward from its point of attachment above when the insect

is probing it, must make the lady bee feel that the joys of life

are elusive. Meanwhile, what is the knob projecting down above

the entrance to the nectar-sac, as if it were a chandelier in a

vestibule? If we look at it with a lens, we can see that it is made

up of five chubby anthers, two in front, one at each side and one

behind; their short, stout little filaments are crooked just right

to bring the anthers together like five closed fingers holding a

fist full of pollen-dust, just ready to sift it on the first one

that chances to pass below. Thus it is that Madame Bumblebee, who

dearly loves the nectar from these flowers, gets her back well dusted

with the creamy-white pollen and does a great business for the

jewelweed in transferring it. But after the pollen is shed, some day

the bumblebee pushes up too hard against the anthers and they break

loose, all in a bunch, looking like a crooked legged table; and there

in their stead, thus left bare and ready for pollen, is the long

green pistil with its pointed stigma ready to rake the pollen out of

the fur of any bumblebee that calls.

The red-gold jewelweed is quite different in shape from the pale

species. The sepal-sac is not nearly so flaring at the mouth, and the

nectar-spur is half as long as the sac and curves and curls under in

a most secretive fashion. The shape of the nectar-spur suggests that

it was meant for an insect with a long, flexible sucking tube that

could curl around and probe it to the bottom; and some butterflies do

avail themselves of the contents of this bronze pitcher. Mr. Mathews

mentions the _Papilio troilus_, and I have seen the yellow roadside

butterfly partaking of the nectar. Professor Robertson believes

that the form of the nectar-spur is especially adapted for the

hummingbird. But I am sure that the flowers which I have had under

observation are the special partners of a small species of bumblebee,

which visits these flowers with avidity, celerity, and certainty,

plunging into the nectar-sac “like a shot,” and out again and in

again so rapidly that the eye can hardly follow. One day, one of them

accommodatingly alighted on a leaf near me, while she combed from her

fur a creamy-white mass of pollen, which matched in color the fuzz

on her back, heaping it on her leg baskets. She seemed to know that

the pollen was on her back, and it was comical to see her contortions

to get it off. The action of these bumblebees in these flowers is in

marked contrast to those of the large bumblebees and the honeybees.

One medium-sized species of bumblebee has learned the trick of

embracing with the front legs the narrow, stiff portion of the petals

which encircles the opening to the sac, thus holding the flower firm

while thrusting the head into the sac. While the huge species--black

with very yellow plush--does not attempt to get the nectar in a

legitimate manner, but systematically alights, back downward, below

the sac of the flower, with head toward the curved spur, and cuts

open the sac for the nectar. A nectar-robber of the most pronounced

type! The honey-bees, Italian hybrids, are the most awkward in their

attempts to get nectar from these flowers; they attempt to alight on

the expanded portion of the petals and almost invariably slide off

between the two petals. They then circle around and take observations

with a note of determination in their buzzing, and finally succeed,

as a rule, in gaining a foothold and securing the nectar. But the

midget bumblebees show a _savoir faire_ in probing the orange

jewelweed that is convincing; they are so small that they are quite

out of sight when in the nectar-sacs.

The jewelweed flowers of the pale species and the pale flowers

of the orange species--for this latter has sometimes pale yellow

flowers--are not invariably marked with freckles in the nectar-sac.

But the most common forms are thus speckled. There is something

particularly seductive to insects in these brownish or reddish

flecks, and wherever we find them in flowers, we may with some

confidence watch for the insects they were meant to allure. The

orange jewelweed flower is a model for an artist in its strange,

graceful form and its color combination of yellow spotted and marbled

with red.

Gray’s Manual states that in the jewel weeds are often flowers of two

sorts “The large ones which seldom ripen seeds, and very small ones

which are fertilized early in the bud, their floral envelopes never

expanding but forced off by the growing pod and carried upward on its

apex.” My jewelweed patch has not given me the pleasure of observing

these two kinds of flowers; my plants blossom luxuriously and

profusely, and a large proportion of the flowers develop seed. The

little, straight, elongated seed-pods are striped prettily and become

quite plump from the large seeds within them. Impatiens? We should

say so! This pod which looks so smug and straight-laced that we

should never suspect it of being so touchy, at the slightest jar when

it is ripe, splits lengthwise into five ribbon-like parts, all of

which tear loose at the lower end and fly up in spirals around what

was once the tip of the pod, but which now looks like a crazy little

turbine wheel with five arms. And meanwhile, through this act the

fat, wrinkled seeds have been flung, perhaps several feet away from

the parent plant, and presumably to some congenial place for growth

the following spring. This surprising method of throwing its seeds is

the origin of the popular name touch-me-not, and the scientific name

_Impatiens_ by which these plants are known.