TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.
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BEGINNERS’ BOTANY
[Illustration: (Sigil)]
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO
SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
TORONTO
[Illustration: BOUQUET OF BEARDED WHEAT]
BEGINNERS’ BOTANY
BY
L. H. BAILEY
[Illustration: (Colophon)]
_AUTHORIZED BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION
FOR ONTARIO_
TORONTO
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LIMITED
1921
COPYRIGHT, 1921
BY THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA LTD.
PREFACE
In all teaching of plants and animals to beginners, the plants
themselves and the animals themselves should be made the theme,
rather than any amount of definitions and of mere study in books.
Books will be very useful in guiding the way, in arranging the
subjects systematically, and in explaining obscure points; but if
the pupil does not know the living and growing plants when he has
completed his course in botany, he has not acquired very much that is
worth the while.
It is well to acquaint the beginner at first with the main features
of the entire plant rather than with details of its parts. He should
at once form a mental picture of what the plant is, and what are some
of its broader adaptations to the life that it leads. In this book,
the pupil starts with the entire branch or the entire plant. It is
sometimes said that the pupil cannot grasp the idea of struggle for
existence until he knows the names and the uses of the different
parts of the plant. This is an error, although well established in
present-day methods of teaching.
Another very important consideration is to adapt the statement of any
fact to the understanding of a beginner. It is easy, for example,
to fall into technicalities when discussing osmosis; but the minute
explanations would mean nothing to the beginner and their use would
tend to confuse the picture which it is necessary to leave in the
pupil’s mind. Even the use of technical forms of expression would
probably not go far enough to satisfy the trained physicist. It
is impossible ever to state the last thing about any proposition.
All knowledge is relative. What is very elementary to one mind may
be very technical and advanced to another. It is neither necessary
nor desirable to safeguard statements to the beginner by such
qualifications as will make them satisfactory to the critical expert
in science. The teacher must understand that while accuracy is always
essential, the _degree of statement_ is equally important when
teaching beginners.
The value of biology study lies in the work with the actual objects.
It is not possible to provide specimens for every part of the work,
nor is it always desirable to do so; for the beginning pupil may
not be able to interest himself in the objects, and he may become
immersed in details before he has arrived at any general view or
reason of the subject. Great care must be exercised that the pupil is
not swamped. Mere book work or memory stuffing is useless, and it may
dwarf or divert the sympathies of active young minds.
The present tendency in secondary education is away from the formal
technical completion of separate subjects and toward the developing
of a workable training in the activities that relate the pupil to his
own life. In the natural science field, the tendency is to attach
less importance to botany and zoology as such, and to lay greater
stress on the processes and adaptations of life as expressed in
plants and animals. Education that is not applicable, that does not
put the pupil into touch with the living knowledge and the affairs
of his time, may be of less educative value than the learning of a
trade in a shop. We are beginning to learn that the ideals and the
abilities should be developed out of the common surroundings and
affairs of life rather than imposed on the pupil as a matter of
abstract unrelated theory.
It is much better for the beginning pupil to acquire a real
conception of a few central principles and points of view respecting
common forms that will enable him to tie his knowledge together and
organize it and apply it, than to familiarize himself with any number
of mere facts about the lower forms of life which, at the best, he
can know only indirectly and remotely. If the pupil wishes to go
farther in later years, he may then take up special groups and phases.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. NO TWO PLANTS OR PARTS ARE ALIKE 1
II. THE STRUGGLE TO LIVE 4
III. SURVIVAL OF THE FIT 7
IV. PLANT SOCIETIES 9
V. THE PLANT BODY 15
VI. SEEDS AND GERMINATION 20
VII. THE ROOT—THE FORMS OF ROOTS 32
VIII. THE ROOT—FUNCTION AND STRUCTURE 38
IX. THE STEM—KINDS AND FORMS—PRUNING 49
X. THE STEM—ITS GENERAL STRUCTURE 59
XI. LEAVES—FORM AND POSITION 73
XII. LEAVES—STRUCTURE AND ANATOMY 86
XIII. LEAVES—FUNCTION OR WORK 92
XIV. DEPENDENT PLANTS 106
XV. WINTER AND DORMANT BUDS 111
XVI. BUD PROPAGATION 121
XVII. HOW PLANTS CLIMB 129
XVIII. THE FLOWER—ITS PARTS AND FORMS 133
XIX. THE FLOWER—FERTILIZATION AND POLLINATION 144
XX. FLOWER-CLUSTERS 155
XXI. FRUITS 163
XXII. DISPERSAL OF SEEDS 172
XXIII. PHENOGAMS AND CRYPTOGAMS 176
XXIV. STUDIES IN CRYPTOGAMS 182
INDEX 205
BEGINNERS’ BOTANY
CHAPTER I
NO TWO PLANTS OR PARTS ARE ALIKE
[Illustration: FIG. 1.—NO TWO BRANCHES ARE ALIKE. (Hemlock.) ]
If one compares _any two plants_ of the same kind ever so closely, it
will be found that they _differ from each other_. The difference is
apparent in size, form, colour, mode of branching, number of leaves,
number of flowers, vigour, season of maturity, and the like; or, in
other words, all plants and animals _vary from an assumed or standard
type_.
If one compares _any two branches or twigs_ on a tree, it will be
found that they differ in size, age, form, vigour, and in other ways
(Fig. 1).
If one compares _any two leaves_, it will be found that they are
unlike in size, shape, colour, veining, hairiness, markings, cut
of the margins, or other small features. In some cases (as in Fig.
2) the differences are so great as to be readily seen in a small
black-and-white drawing.
If the pupil extends his observation to animals, he will still
find the same truth; for probably _no two living objects are exact
duplicates_. If any person finds two objects that he thinks to be
exactly alike, let him set to work to discover the differences,
remembering that _nothing in nature is so small or apparently trivial
as to be overlooked_.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.—NO TWO LEAVES ARE ALIKE.]
=Variation=, or differences between organs and also between
organisms, is one of the most significant facts in nature.
SUGGESTIONS.—The first fact that the pupil should acquire about
plants is that no two are alike. The way to apprehend this great
fact is to see a plant accurately and then to compare it with
another plant of the same species or kind. In order to direct and
concentrate the observation, it is well to set a certain number of
attributes or marks or qualities to be looked for. =1.= Suppose any
two or more plants of corn are compared in the following points,
the pupil endeavouring to determine whether the parts exactly
agree. See that the observation is close and accurate. Allow no
guesswork. Instruct the pupil to measure the parts when size is
involved.
(1) Height of the plant.
(2) Does it branch? How many secondary stems or “suckers” from one
root?
(3) Shade or colour.
(4) How many leaves.
(5) Arrangement of leaves on stem.
(6) Measure length and breadth of six main leaves.
(7) Number and position of ears; colour of silks.
(8) Size of tassel, and number and size of its branches.
(9) Stage of maturity or ripeness of plant.
(10) Has the plant grown symmetrically, or has it been crowded by
other plants or been obliged to struggle for light or room?
(11) Note all unusual or interesting marks or features.
(12) Always make note of comparative vigour of the plants.
NOTE TO TEACHER.—The teacher should always insist on _personal work_
by the pupil. Every pupil should _handle and study the object by
himself_. Books and pictures are merely guides and helps. So far as
possible, study the plant or animal _just where it grows naturally_.
=Notebooks.=—Insist that the pupils make full notes and preserve
these notes in suitable books. Note-taking is a powerful aid in
organizing the mental processes, and in insuring accuracy of
observation and record. The pupil should draw what he sees, even
though he is not expert with the pencil. The drawing should not be
made for looks, but to aid the pupil in his orderly study of the
object; it should be a means of self-expression.