Chapter XXXI: Part III: Plant Life (1)

HOW TO BEGIN THE STUDY OF PLANTS
AND FLOWERS

The only right way to begin plant study with young children is through awakening their interest in and love for flowers. Most children love flowers naturally; they enjoy bringing flowers to school, and here, by teaching the recognition of flowers by name, may be begun this delightful study. This should be done naturally and informally. The teacher may say: “Thank you, John, for this bouquet. Why, here is a pansy, a bachelor’s button, a larkspur and a poppy.” Or, “Julia has brought me a beautiful flower. What is its name, I wonder?” Then may follow a little discussion, which the teacher leads to the proper conclusion. If this course is consistently followed, the children will learn the names of the common flowers of wood, field and garden, and never realize that they are learning anything.

The next step is to inspire the child with a desire to care for and preserve his bouquet. The posies brought in the perspiring little hand may be wilted and look dejected; ask their owner to place the stems in water, and call attention to the way they lift their drooping heads. Parents and teachers should very early inculcate in children this respect for the rights of flowers which they gather; no matter how tired the child or how disinclined to further effort, when he returns from the woods or fields or garden with plucked flowers, he should be made to place their stems in water immediately. This is a lesson in duty as well as in plant study. Attention to the behavior of the thirsty flowers may be gained by asking the following questions:

1. When a plant is wilted how does it look? How does its stem act? Do its leaves stand up? What happens to the flower?

2. Place the cut end of the stem in water and look at it occasionally during an hour; describe what happens to the stem, the leaves, the blossom.

3. To find how flowers drink, place the stem of a wilted plant in red ink; the next day cut the stem across and find how far the ink has been lifted into it.

HOW TO MAKE PLANTS COMFORTABLE

Another step in plant study comes naturally from planting the seeds in window-boxes or garden. This may be done in the kindergarten or in the primary grades. As soon as the children have had some experience in the growing of flowers, they should conduct some experiments which will teach them about the needs of plants. These experiments are fit for the work of the second or third grade. Uncle John says, “All plants want to grow; all they ask is that they shall be made comfortable.” The following experiments should be made vital and full of interest, by impressing upon the children that through them they will learn to make their plants comfortable.

_Experiment 1. To find out what kind of soil plants love best to grow in_--Have the children of a class, or individuals representing a class, prepare four little pots or boxes, as follows: Fill one with rich, woods humus, or with potting earth from a florist’s; another with poor, hard soil, which may be found near excavations; another with clean sand; another with sawdust. Plant the same kind of seeds in all four, and place them where they will get plenty of light. Water them as often as needful. Note which plants grow the best. This trial should cover six weeks at least and attention should now and then be called to the relative growth of the plants.

_Experiment 2. To prove that plants need light in order to grow._--Fill two pots with the same rich soil; plant in these the same kind of seeds, and give them both the same amount of water; keep one in the window and place the other in a dark closet or under a box, and note what happens. Or take two potted geraniums which look equally thrifty; keep one in the light and the other in darkness. What happens?

_Experiment 3. To show that the leaves love the light_--Place a geranium in a window and let it remain in the same position for two weeks. Which way do all the leaves face? Turn it around, and note what the leaves have done after a few days.

_Experiment 4. To show that plants need water_--Fill three pots with rich earth, plant the same kinds of seeds in each, and place them all in the same window. Give one water as it needs it, keep another flooded with water, and give the other none at all. What happens to the seeds in the three pots?

The success of these four experiments depends upon the genius of the teacher. The interest in the result should be keen; every child should feel that every seed planted is a living germ and that it is struggling to grow; every look at the experiments should be like another chapter in a continued story. In the case of young children, I have gone so far as to name the seeds, “Robbie Radish” or “Polly Peppergrass.” I did this to focus the attention of the child on the efforts of this living being to grow. After the experiments, the children told the story, personating each seed, thus: “I am Susie Sweet Pea and Johnny Smith planted me in sand. I started to grow, for I had some lunch with me which my mother put up for me to eat when I was hungry; but after the lunch was all gone, I could find very little food in the sand, although my little roots reached down and tried and tried to find something for me to eat. I finally grew pale and could not put out another leaf.”

The explanations of these experiments should be simple, with no attempt to teach the details of plant physiology. The need of plants for rich, loose earth and for water is easily understood by the children; but the need for light is not so apparent, and Uncle John’s story of the starch factory is the most simple and graphic way of making known to the children the processes of plant nourishment. This is how he tells it: “Plants are just like us; they have to have food to make them grow; where is the food and how do they find it? Every green leaf is a factory to make food for the plant; the green pulp in the leaf is the machinery; the leaves get the raw materials from the sap and from the air, and the machinery unites them and makes them into plant food. This is mostly starch, for this is the chief food of plants, although they require some other kinds of food also. The machinery is run by sunshine-power, so the leaf-factory can make nothing without the aid of light; the leaf-factories begin to work as soon as the sun rises, and only stop working when it sets. But the starch has to be changed to sugar before the baby, growing tips of the plant can use it for nourishment and growth; and so the leaves, after making the starch from the sap and the air, are obliged to digest it, changing the starch to sugar; for the growing parts of the plant feed upon sweet sap. Although the starch-factory in the leaves can work only during the daytime, the leaves can change the starch to sugar during the night. So far as we know, there is no starch in the whole world which is not made in the leaf-factories.”

This story should be told and repeated often, until the children realize the work done by leaves for the plants and their need of light.

* * * * *

“_The clouds are at play in the azure space
And their shadows at play on the bright green vale,
And here they stretch to the frolic chase;
And there they roll on the easy gale._

“_There’s a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,
There’s a titter of winds in that beechen tree,
There’s a smile on the fruit and a smile on the flower,
And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea._”
--BRYANT.

HOW TO TEACH THE NAMES OF THE PARTS OF A FLOWER
AND OF THE PLANT

The scientific names given to the parts of plants have been the stumbling block to many teachers, and yet no part of plant study is more easily accomplished. First of all, the teacher should have in mind clearly the names of the parts which she wishes to teach; the illustrations here given are for her convenience. When talking with the pupils about flowers let her use these names naturally:

“See how many geraniums we have; the corolla of this one is red and of that one is pink. The red corolla has fourteen petals and the pink one only five,” etc.

“This arbutus which James brought has a pretty little pink bell for a corolla.”

“The purple trillium has a purple corolla, the white trillium a white corolla; and both have green sepals.”

The points to be borne in mind are that children like to call things by their names because they are _real_ names, and they also like to use “grown up” names for things; but they do not like to commit to memory names which to them are meaningless. Circumlocution is a waste of breath; calling a petal a “leaf of a flower” or the petiole “the stem of a leaf,” is like calling a boy’s arm “the projecting part of James’ body” or Molly’s golden hair “the yellow top” to her head. All the names should be taught gradually by constant unemphasized use on the part of the teacher; and if the child does not learn the names naturally then do not make him do it unnaturally.

The lesson on the garden, or horseshoe geranium with single flowers, is the one to be given first in teaching the structure of a flower since the geranium blossom is simple and easily understood.

TEACH THE USE OF THE FLOWER

From first to last the children should be taught that the object of the flower is to develop seed. They should look eagerly into the maturing flower for the growing fruit. Poetry is full of the sadness of the fading flower, while rightly it should be the gladness of the flower that fades, because its work is done for the precious seed at its heart. The whole attention of the child should be fixed upon the developing fruit instead of the fading and falling petals.

* * * * *

“_In all places then and in all seasons,
Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings,
Teaching us by most persuasive reasons,
How akin they are to human things._”
--LONGFELLOW.

FLOWERS AND INSECT PARTNERS

It is undoubtedly true that while the processes of cross-pollenation and the complicated devices of flowers for insuring it can only be well taught to older pupils and only fully understood in the college laboratory, yet there are a few simple facts which even the young child may know, as follows:

1. Pollen is needed to make the seeds grow; some flowers need the pollen from other flowers of the same kind, to make their seeds grow; but many flowers also use the pollen from their own flowers to pollenate their ovules, which grow into seeds.

2. Flowers have neither legs like animals nor wings like butterflies, to go after pollen; so they give insects nectar to drink and pollen to eat, and thus pay them for fetching and carrying the pollen.

I taught this to a four-year-old once in the following manner: A pine tree in the yard was sifting its pollen over us and little Jack asked what the yellow dust was; we went to the tree and saw where it came from, then I found a tiny young cone and explained to him that this was a pine blossom, and that in order to become a cone with seeds, it must have some pollen fall upon it; and we saw how the wind sifted the pollen over it and then we examined a ripe cone and found the seeds. Then we looked at the clovers in the lawn. They did not have so much pollen and they were so low in the grass that the wind could not carry it for them; but right there was a bee. What was she doing? She was getting honey for her hive or pollen for her brood, and she went from one clover head to another; we caught her in a glass fruit jar, and found she was dusted with pollen and that she had pollen packed in the baskets on her hind legs; and we concluded that she carried plenty of pollen on her clothes for the clovers, and that the pollen in her baskets was for her own use. After that he was always watching the bees at work; and we found afterwards that flowers had two ways of telling the insects that they wanted pollen. One was by their color, for the dandelions and clovers hide their colors during dark, rainy days when the bees remain in their hives. Then we found the bees working on mignonette, whose blossoms were so small that Jack did not think they were blossoms at all, and we concluded that the mignonette called the bees by its fragrance. We found other flowers which called with both color and fragrance; and this insect-flower partnership remained a factor of great interest in the child’s mind ever after.

* * * * *

“_Roly-poly honey-bee,
Humming in the clover,
Under you the tossing leaves,
And the blue sky over,
Why are you so busy, pray?
Never still a minute,
Hovering now above a flower,
Now half buried in it!_”
--JULIA C. R. DORR.

THE RELATION OF PLANTS TO GEOGRAPHY

There should be from first to last a steady growth in the intelligence of the child as to the places where certain plants grow. He finds hepaticas and trilliums in the woods, daisies and buttercups in the sunny fields, mullein on the dry hillsides, cat-tails in the swamp, and water lilies floating on the pond. This may all be taught by simply asking the pupils questions relating to the soil and the special conditions of the locality where they found the flowers they bring to school.

The plants from left to right are: cabbage, field corn, popcorn, wheat, buckwheat.]

SEED GERMINATION

Less than three decades ago, this one feature of plant life once came near “gobbling up” all of nature-study, and yet it is merely an incident in the growth of the plant. To sprout seeds is absurd as an object in itself; it is incidental as is the breaking of the egg-shell to the study of the chicken. The peeping into a seed like a bean or a pea, to see that the plant is really there, with its lunch put up by its mother packed all around it, is interesting to the child. To watch the little plant develop, to study its seed-leaves and what becomes of them, to know that they give the plant its first food and to know how a young plant looks and acts, are all items of legitimate interest in the study of the life of a plant; in fact the struggle of the little plant to get free from its seed-coats may be a truly dramatic story. (See “First Lessons with Plants,” Bailey, page 79). But to regard this feature as the chief object of planting seed is manifestly absurd.

The object of planting any seed should be to rear a plant which shall fulfill its whole duty and produce other seed. The following observations regarding the germination of seeds should be made while the children are eagerly watching the coming of the plants in their gardens or window-boxes:

1. Which comes out of the seed first, the root or the leaf? Which way does the root always grow, up or down? Which way do the leaves always grow, no matter which side up the seed is planted?

2. How do the seed-leaves try to get out of the seed-coat, or shell? How do the seed-leaves differ in form from the leaves which come later? What becomes of the seed-leaves after the plant begins to grow?

_References_--First Lessons with Plants, L. H. Bailey; First Lessons in Plant Life, Atkinson; Plants and their Children, Dana; Plants, Coulter; How Plants Grow, Gray; How Plants Behave, Gray.

I. WILD-FLOWER STUDY

THE HEPATICA

_Teacher’s Story_

“_The wise men say the hepatica flower has no petals but has
pink, white or purple sepals instead: and they say, too, that
the three leaflets of the cup which holds the flower are not
sepals but are bracts; and they offer as proof the fact that
they do not grow close to the blossom, but are placed a little
way down the stem. But the hepatica does not care what names
the wise men give to the parts of its blossom: it says as plainly
as if it could talk: ‘The bees do not care whether they are
sepals or petals since they are pretty in color, and show where
the pollen is to be found. I will teach the world that bracts
are just as good to wrap around flower-buds as are sepals, and
that sepals may be just as beautiful as petals. Since my
petticoat is pretty enough for a dress why should not I wear it
thus?_’”--“THE CHILD’S OWN BOOK OF WILD FLOWERS.”

We seek the hepatica in its own haunts, because there is a longing for spring in our hearts that awakens with the first warm sunshine. As we thread our way into sodden woods, avoiding the streams and puddles which are little glacial rivers and lakes, having their sources in the snow-drifts still heaped on the north side of things, we look eagerly for signs of returning life. Our eyes slowly distinguish among the various shades of brown in the floor of the forest, a bit of pale-blue or pink-purple that at first seems like an optical delusion; but as we look again to make sure, Lo! it is the hepatica, lifting its delicate blossoms above its mass of purple-brown leaves. These leaves, moreover, are always beautiful in shape and color and suggest patterns for sculpture like the acanthus, or for rich tapestries like the palm-leaf in the Orient. It warms the heart to see these brave little flowers stand with their faces to the sun and their backs to the snow-drifts, looking out on a gray-brown world, nodding to it and calling it good.

The hepatica is forehanded in several ways. After the leaves have fallen from the trees in the autumn and let in the sunshine, it puts up new leaves which make food that is stored in the crown bud; the little flower buds are then started, and wrapped cozily, are cuddled down at the very center of the plant. These buds, perfected in the autumn, are ready to stretch up and blossom when the first warmth of spring shall reach them. The stems and the bracts of the flower are soft and downy, and are much more furry than those which appear later; while this down is not for the purpose of keeping the plant at a higher temperature, yet it acts as a blanket to prevent too rapid transpiration, which is a cooling process, and thus it does, as a matter of fact, keep the flower warmer. As the stems lift up, the buds are bent, which position protects them from the beating storms. The hepatica flowers are white, pink and lavender. The latter are sometimes called “blue.” The so-called “petals” number from six to twelve; there are usually six. The three outer ones are sepals and are exactly like the three inner ones, the petals, but may be distinguished by their outside position in the half-opened flower. The three green bracts which encase the flower bud, and later remain with the seed, are placed on the stem quite distinctly below the flower. On dark days and during the nights, the young blossoms close; but when they become old and faded, they remain open all the time. Thus, the flowers are closed except when bees are likely to visit them; but after they have shed their pollen, they do not need to remain closed any longer. Not all hepatica blossoms are fragrant; and those that are so, lose their fragrance as their colors begin to fade to white. If a snow-storm comes, the hepatica blossoms close and bow their heads.

There are many stamens with greenish white anthers and pollen. They stand erect around the many pistils at the center of the flower. The number of pistils varies from six to twenty-four. Each pistil holds aloft the little horseshoe-shaped, whitish stigma and, if pollenated, develops into a seed. The hepatica is a perennial and grows only in rich, moist woods. It is so adapted to the shade, that it dies if transplanted to sunny places. The leaves which have passed the winter under the snow are rich purple beneath, and mottled green and purple above, making beautiful objects for water-color drawings. The new leaves are put forth in spring before the leaves of the trees create too much shade. In the fall, after the trees are bare, the leaves again become active. The roots are quite numerous and fine.

The Child’s Own Book of Wild Flowers, drawn by Evelyn Mitchell.]

LESSON CXVII

THE HEPATICA

_Leading thought_--The hepatica flower buds are developed in the fall, so as to be ready to blossom early in the spring. This plant lives only in moist and shady woods.

_Method_--The pupils should have the questions before they go into the woods to gather spring flowers, and should answer them individually. However, the hepatica plant may be potted early in the spring, and the flowers may be watched during their development, and studied in the schoolroom.

_Observations_--1. Where do you find the hepaticas? Do you ever find them in the open fields? Do you ever find them in the pine woods?

2. How do the leaves look in early spring? Sketch in color one of these old leaves. How do the young leaves look? Are the leaves that come up late in the spring as fuzzy as those that appear early? What is the difference in texture and color between the leaves that were perfected in the fall and those that appear in the spring?

3. Find a hepatica plant before it begins to blossom. Look, if possible, at its very center. Describe these little flower buds. When were they formed?

4. How does the bud look when it begins to lift up? Describe the stems and the three little blankets that hold the bud. Ask your teacher how these fuzzy blankets keep the bud from being killed by cold.

5. Are the hepaticas in your woods all pink, or blue, or white? Do those which are at first pink or blue fade to white later? Do the blossoms keep open during the night and stormy weather? Why not? Are they all fragrant?

6. How many petals has your hepatica? Can you see that the outer ones are sepals, although they look just like the petals? Peel back the three sepal-like bracts and see that they are not a part of the flower at all but join the stem below the flower.

7. Describe the stamens in the hepatica. How many pistils are there? Does each pistil develop into a seed? How do the three bracts protect the seeds as they ripen?

8. What insects do you find visiting the hepaticas?

9. Describe a hepatica plant in the woods; mark it so that you will know it, and visit it occasionally during the summer and autumn, noting what happens to it.

THE YELLOW ADDER’S TONGUE

_Teacher’s Story_

“_Once a prize was offered to a child if she would find two
leaves of the adder’s tongue that were marked exactly alike:
and she sought long and faithfully, but the only prize she
won was a lesson in Nature’s book of variations, where no two
leaves of any plant, shrub or tree are exactly alike: for
even if they seemed so to our eyes, yet there would exist in
them differences of strength and growth too subtle for us
to detect. But this child was slow in learning this great
fact, and, until she was a woman, the adder’s tongue leaves,
so beautifully embroidered with purple and green, were to
her a miracle, revealing the infinite diversity of Nature’s
patterns._”--“THE CHILD’S OWN BOOK OF WILD FLOWERS.”

This little lily of the woods is a fascinating plant. Its leaves of pale green mottled with brownish purple often cover closely large irregular areas in the rich soil of our woodlands; and yet I doubt if the underground story of these forest rugs is often thought of. The leaves are twins, and to the one who plucks them carelessly they seem to come from one slender stem. It requires muscle as well as decision of character to follow this weak stem down several inches, by digging around it, until we find the corm at its base. A corm is the swollen base of a stem and is bulb-like in form; but it is not made up of layers, as is a bulb. It is a storehouse for food and also a means of spreading the species; for from the corms there grow little corms called cormels, and each cormel develops a separate plant. This underground method of reproduction is the secret of why the leaves of the adder’s tongue appear in patches, closely crowded together.

Only a few of the plants in a “patch” produce flowers, and it is interesting to see how cleverly these lily bells hide from the casual eye. Like many of the lilies, the three sepals are petal-like and are identified as sepals only by their outside position, although they are thicker in texture. They are purplish brown outside, which serves to render the flower inconspicuous as we look down upon it; on the inner side, they are a pure yellow, spotted with darker yellow near where they join the stem. The three petals are pure yellow, paler outside than in, and they have dark spots like the tiger lilies near the heart of the flower; and where they join the stem, each has on each side an ear-shaped lobe.

Drawn by F. Dana Gibson, a pupil in seventh grade.]

The open flower is bell-shaped; and like other bells it has a clapper, or tongue. This is formed by six downward-hanging stamens, the yellow filaments of which have broad bases and taper to points where the oblong anthers join them. The anthers are red or yellow. It is this stamen clapper that the visiting insects must cling to when probing upward for nectar from this flower at the upper end of the bell. The pale green pistil is somewhat three-sided, and the long style remains attached long after the flower disappears. The flower is slightly fragrant, and it is visited by the queen bumblebees and the solitary bees, of which there are many species. The flower closes nights and during cloudy, stormy days. The seed capsule is plump and rather triangular, and splits into three sections when ripe. The seeds are numerous and are fleshy and crescent-shaped.

But the adder’s tongue, like many other early blooming flowers, is a child of the spring. The leaves, at first so prettily mottled, fade out to plain green; and by midsummer they have entirely disappeared, the place where they were, being covered with other foliage of far different pattern. But down in the rich woods soil are the plump globular corms filled with the food gathered by the spotted leaves during their brief stay, and next spring two pairs of spotted leaves may appear where there was but one pair this year.

Photo by Verne Morton.]

LESSON CXVIII

ADDER’S TONGUE, OR DOG-TOOTH VIOLET

_Leading thought_--The adder’s tongue is a lily, and its mottled leaves appear early in the spring, each pair coming from a corm deep in the soil below. It has two ways of spreading, one underground by means of new corms growing from the larger ones, and the other by means of seeds, many of which are probably perfected through the pollen carried by insects.

_Method_--This plant should be studied in the woods, notes being made on it there. But a plant showing corm, roots, leaves and blossom should be brought to the schoolhouse for detailed study, and then planted in a shady place in the school garden.

_Observations_--1. Where does the adder’s tongue grow? Do you ever find it in open fields? How early do you find its leaves above ground? At what time does its blossoms appear?

2. How many leaves has each plant? What colors do you find in them? What is the color of their petioles? Do the leaves remain mottled later in the season?

3. Do the adder’s tongue plants occur singly or in patches? Dig out a plant and see if you can find why the plants grow so many together?

4. How far below the surface of the ground did you find the corm or bulb-like growth? Is this the root of the plant? How does it differ from the roots? How does it differ from a bulb? Of what use is it to the plant?

5. Is the flower lifted up, or is it drooping? What is its general shape? How many sepals? How would you know they were sepals? How do they differ in color, outside and in, from the petals? How are the petals marked? Can you see the lobes at the base of each petal? When sepals and petals are so much alike the botanists call them all together the perianth.

6. If the perianth, or the sepals and petals together, make a bell-shaped flower, what makes the clapper to the bell? How do the insects use this clapper when they visit the flower? Do the flowers stay open nights and dark days? Why?

7. How many stamens are there? Describe or sketch one, noting its peculiar shape. Are the stamens all the same length? Can you see the pistil and its stigma? Where is it situated in relation to the stamens? Do you think the stigma is ready for pollen at the time the anthers are shedding it?

8. After the petals and sepals fall what remains? How does the ripe seed-capsule look? How does it open to let out the seeds? Are there many seeds in a capsule? What is their shape?

Drawn by Evelyn Mitchell for Child’s Own Book of Wild Flowers.]

“_Bloodroots, whose rolled-up leaves ef you oncurl
Each on em’s cradle to a baby pearl._”
--LOWELL.

Photo by O. L. Foster.]

BLOODROOT

_Teacher’s Story_

“_What time the earliest ferns unfold,
And meadow cowslips count their gold;
A countless multitude they stood,
A Milky Way within the wood._”
--DANSKE DANDRIDGE.

Only a few generations ago, and this land of ours was peopled by those who found it fitting to paint their bodies to represent their mental or spiritual conditions or intentions. For this purpose they had studied the plants of our forests to learn the secrets of the dyes which they yielded, and a dye that would remain on the flesh permanently, or until it wore off, was highly prized. Such a dye was found in the bloodroot, a dye appropriate in its color to represent a thirst for blood; and with it they made their war paint, and with it they ornamented their tomahawks to symbolize their sanguinary purpose.

The Indian warriors have passed away from our forests, and the forests themselves are passing away, but the bloodroot still lingers, growing abundantly in rich moist woods or in shaded areas in glades, borders of meadows and fence corners. Its beautiful white flowers open to the morning sun in early April, calling the hungry bees to come for pollen; for, like many other early flowers, it offers no nectar. Probably many of the little wild bees prefer pollen to nectar at this time of year, for it is an important element in the food of all kinds of bee brood. But the bloodroot’s fragile blossoms are elusive and do not remain long; like their relatives, the poppies, their petals soon fall, and their white masses disappear like the snow-drifts which so recently occupied the same nooks.

The way the bloodroot leaf enfolds the flower-bud seems like such an obvious plan for protection, that we are unthinkingly prone to attribute consciousness to the little plants.

Not only does the leaf enfold the bud, but it continues to enfold the flower stem after the blossom opens. There are two sepals which enclose the bud, but fall off as the flower opens. There are ordinarily eight white petals, although there may be twelve; usually every other one of the eight petals is longer than its neighbors, and this makes the blossom rather square than circular in outline. There are many stamens, often 24, and the anthers are brilliant yellow with whitish filaments. The two-lobed stigma opens to receive pollen before the pollen of its own flower is ripe. The stigma is large, yellow, and set directly on the ovary, and is quite noticeable in the freshly opened blossoms. It is likely to shrivel before its home-grown pollen is ripe. The blossoms open wide on sunny mornings; the petals rise up in the afternoon and close at night, and also remain closed during dark, stormy days until they are quite old, when they remain carelessly open; they are now ready to fall to the ground at the slightest jar, leaving the oblong, green seed-pod set on the stem at a neat bevel, and perhaps still crowned with the yellowish stigma. The seed-pod is oblong and pointed and remains below the protecting leaf. There are many yellowish or brownish seeds.

When the plant appears above ground, the leaf is wrapped in a cylinder about the bud, and it is a very pretty leaf, especially the “wrong side,” which forms the outside of the roll; it is pale green with a network of pinkish veins, and its edges are attractively lobed; the petiole is fleshy, stout and reddish amber in color. The flower stem is likewise fleshy and is tinged with raw sienna; the stems of both leaf and flower stand side by side, and are held together at the base by two scapes with parallel veins. Later in the season, the leaf having done its full duty as a nurse waxes opulent, often measuring six inches across and having a petiole ten inches long. It is then one of the most beautiful leaves in the forest carpet, its circular form and deeply lobed edges rendering it a fit subject for decorative design.

The rootstock is large and fleshy, and in it is stored the food which enables the flower to blossom early, before any food has been made by the new leaves. There are many stout and rather short roots that fringe the rootstock. Once in clearing a path through a woodland, we happened to hack off a mass of these rootstocks, and we stood aghast at the gory results. We had admired the bloodroot flowers in this place in the spring, and we felt as guilty as if we had inadvertently hacked into a friend.

LESSON CXIX

BLOODROOT

_Leading thought_--The bloodroot has a fleshy rootstock, in which is stored food for the nourishment of the blossom in early spring. The flower bud is at first protected by the folded leaf. The juice of the rootstock is a vivid light crimson, and was used by Indians as a war paint. The juice is acrid, and the bloodroot is not relished as food by grazing animals, but it is used by us as a medicine.

_Method_--The bloodroot may, in the fall, be transplanted in a pot of woods earth, care being taken not to disturb its roots. It should be placed out of doors in a protected place where it may have natural conditions, and be brought to the schoolroom for study in March, so that the whole act of the unfolding of leaves and flowers may be observed by the pupils. Otherwise the questions must be given the pupils to answer as they find the plants blossoming in the woods in April. The blossoms are too fragile to be successfully transported for study at home or school.

_Observations_--1. At what time of year does bloodroot blossom? In what situations does it thrive?

2. What do we see first when the bloodroot puts its head above the soil? Where is the flower bud? How is it protected by the leaf? How does the leaf hold the flower stem after the flower is in blossom?

3. Study the flower. How many sepals has it? What is their color? What is the position of the sepals when the flower is in bud? What is their position when the flower opens? How many petals? What is their color and texture? Describe the position of the petals in the bud and in the open flower. Look straight into the flower; is its shape circular or square?

4. Do the flowers close nights and during dark days? Do the flowers longest open do this? Describe how the petals and sepals fall.

Photographed by Verne Morton.]

5. Describe the stamens. What is the color of the anthers? Of the pollen? Describe the pistil. Does the two-grooved stigma open before the pollen is shed, or after? What insects do you find visiting the bloodroot?

6. Sketch or describe a bloodroot leaf as it is wrapped around the stem of the flower. How are both flower stem and leaf petiole protected at the base? Describe or sketch a leaf after it is unfolded and open. Describe the difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf. What sort of petiole has it? Break the petiole; what sort of juice comes from it? Describe and measure the leaf later in the season; do they all have the same number of lobes?

7. Break a bit off the root of the plant and note the color of the juice.

8. Compare the bloodroot with the poppies; do you find any resemblance in habits?

THE TRILLIUM

_Teacher’s Story_

It would be well for the designer of tapestries to study the carpets of our forests for his patterns, for he would find there a new carpet every month, quite different in plan and design from the one spread there earlier or later. One of the most beautiful designs from Nature’s looms is a trillium carpet, which is at its best when the white trilliums are in blossom. It is a fine study of the artistic possibilities of the triangle when reduced to terms of leaves, petals and sepals.

Photo by Verne Morton.]

The trillium season is a long one; it begins in April with the purple wake-robin or birthroot, the species with purple, red, or sometimes yellowish flowers. The season ends in June with the last of the great white trilliums, which flush pink instead of fading, when old age comes upon them.

The color of the trillium flower depends upon the species studied; there are three petals, and the white and painted trilliums have the edges of the petals ruffled; the red and nodding trilliums have petals and sepals nearly the same size, but in the white trillium the sepals are narrower and shorter than the petals. The sepals are alternate the petals, so that when we look straight into the flower we see it as a six-pointed star, three of the points being green sepals. The pistil of the trillium is six-lobed. It is dark red in the purple trillium and very large; in the white species, it is pale green and smaller; it opens at the top with three flaring stigmas. There are six stamens with long anthers, and they stand between the lobes of the pistil. The flower stalk rises from the center where three large leaves join. The flower stalk has a tendency to bend a little, and is rather delicate. The three leaves have an interesting venation, and make a good subject for careful drawing. The flower stem varies with different species, and so does the length of the stem of the plant, the latter being fleshy and green toward the top and reddish toward the root. The trilliums have a thick, fleshy, and much scarred rootstock from which extend rootlets which are often corrugated. The trilliums are perennial, and grow mostly in damp, rich woods. The painted trillium is found in cold, damp woods along the banks of brooks; the white trillium is likely to be found in large numbers in the same locality, while the purple trillium is found only here and there. Flies and beetles carry the pollen for the red trillium, being attracted to it by its rank odor, which is very disagreeable to us but very agreeable to them. The large white trillium is visited by bees and butterflies. The fruit of the trillium is a berry, that of the purple species is somewhat six-lobed and reddish. In late July the fruit of the white trillium is a cone with six sharp wings, or ridges, from apex to base, the latter being three-quarters of an inch across. These vertical ridges are not evenly spaced, and beneath them are packed as closely as possible the yellow-green seeds, which are as large as homeopathic pills. In cross section, it can be seen that the trillium berry is star-shaped with three compartments, the seeds growing on the partitions. This trillium fruit is very rough outside, but smooth inside, and the dried stamens often still cling to it.

The trilliums are so called from the word _triplum_, meaning three, as there are three leaves, three petals, and three sepals.

LESSON CXX

THE TRILLIUM

_Leading thought_--The trilliums are lilies, and are often called wood lilies, because of their favorite haunts. There are several species, but they are all alike in that they have three sepals, three petals and three leaves.

Photo by Verne Morton.]

_Method_--This lesson may be given from trilliums brought to the schoolroom by the pupils, who should be encouraged to watch the development of the berry and also to learn all the different species common to a locality.

_Observations_--1. How many leaves has the trillium? How are they arranged? Draw a leaf showing its shape and veins. Describe the stem of the plant below the leaves, giving the length and color.

2. How far above the leaves does the flower stem or pedicel extend? Does the flower stand upright or droop? Describe or sketch the colors, shape and arrangement of the petals and sepals. Do the petals have ruffled margins?

3. Describe the pistil and the stigmas. Describe the stamens and how they are placed in relation to the pistil.

4. Do the flowers remain open during cloudy days and nights?

5. What insects do you find visiting the trilliums? Do the same insects visit the purple and the white trilliums? What is the difference in odor between the purple and the white trillium? Would this bring different kinds of insects to each?

6. How does the color of the white trillium change as the blossom matures? What is the color and shape of the fruit of each different species of trillium? When is the fruit ripe?

7. What kind of a root have the wake-robins? Do they grow from seed each year, or are they perennial? Where do you find them growing?

Photo by O. L. Foster.]

DUTCHMAN’S BREECHES AND SQUIRREL CORN

_Teacher’s Story_

“_In a gymnasium where things grow,
Jolly boys and girls in a row,
Hanging down from cross-bar stem
Builded purposely for them.
Stout little legs up in the air,
Kick at the breeze as it passes there;
Dizzy heads in collars wide
Look at the world from the underside;
Happy acrobats a-swing,
At the woodside show in early spring._”
A. B. C.

“_And toward the sun, which kindlier burns,
The earth awaking, looks and yearns,
And still, as in all other Aprils,
The annual miracle returns._”
ELIZABETH AKERS.

There are many beautiful carpets spread before the feet of advancing spring, but perhaps none of them are so delicate in pattern as those woven by these two plants that spread their fernlike leaves in April and May. There is little difference in the foliage of the two; both are delicate green and lacelike above, and pale, bluish green on the underside. And each leaf, although so finely divided, is, after all, quite simple; for it has three chief divisions, and these in turn are divided into three, and all the leaves come directly from the root and not from stems. These plants love the woodlands, and by spreading their green leaves early, before the trees are in foliage, they have the advantage of the spring sunshine. Thus they make their food for maturing their seeds, and also store some of it in their roots for use early the following spring. By midsummer the leaves have entirely disappeared, and another carpet is spread in the place which they once covered.

Dutchman’s breeches and squirrel corn resemble each other so closely that they are often confused; however, they are quite different in form; the “legs” of the Dutchman’s breeches are quite long and spread wide apart, while the blossoms of the squirrel corn are rounded bags instead of “legs.” The roots of the two are quite different. The Dutchman’s breeches grows from a little bulb made up of grayish scales, while the squirrel corn develops from a round, yellow tuber; these yellow, kernel-like tubers are scattered along the roots, each capable of developing a plant next year. The Dutchman’s breeches likes thin woodlands and rocky hillsides, but the squirrel corn prefers rich, moist woods. The blossom of the Dutchman’s breeches comes the earlier of the two. These flowers are white with yellow tips, and are not fragrant. The flowers of the squirrel corn are grayish with a tinge of magenta, and are fragrant.

The legs of the Dutchman’s breeches are nectar pockets with tubes leading to them, and are formed by two petals. Opposite these two petals are two others more or less spoon-shaped, with the spoon bowls united to protect the anthers and stigma. There are two little sepals which are scalelike.

The seed capsule of the Dutchman’s breeches is a long pod with a slender, pointed end, and it opens lengthwise. The seed capsules of the squirrel corn are similar and I have found in one capsule, 12 seeds, which were shaped like little kernels of corn, black in color and polished like patent leather.

LESSON CXXI

DUTCHMAN’S BREECHES AND SQUIRREL CORN

_Leading thought_--The Dutchman’s breeches, or “boys and girls,” as it is often called, is one of the earliest flowers of rich woodlands. There are interesting differences between this flower and its close relative, squirrel corn. The flowers of both of these resemble in structure the flowers of the bleeding heart.

_Method_--As the Dutchman’s breeches blossoms in April and May and the squirrel corn in May and June, we naturally study the former first and compare the latter with it in form and in habits. The questions should be given the pupils, for them to answer for themselves during their spring walks in the woodlands.

_Observations_--1. Where do you find Dutchman’s breeches? Which do you prefer to call these flowers, Dutchman’s breeches or boys and girls? Are there leaves on the trees when these flowers are in bloom?

2. Which blossoms earlier in the season, Dutchman’s breeches or squirrel corn? How do the flowers of the two differ in shape? In odor?

3. In the flower of the Dutchman’s breeches find two petals which protect the nectar. How do they look? What part do they form of the breeches? Find two other petals which protect the pollen and stigma.

4. Find the two sepals. How many bracts do you find on the flower stem?

5. What insects visit these flowers? Describe how they get the nectar.

6. What sort of root has the Dutchman’s breeches? What is the difference between its root and that of the squirrel corn? Have you ever seen squirrels harvesting squirrel corn? What is the purpose of the kernels of the squirrel corn?

7. Study the leaf. How many main parts are there to it? How are these parts divided? Does the leaf come straight from the root or from a stem? What is the color of the leaf above? Below? Can you distinguish the leaves of the Dutchman’s breeches from those of the squirrel corn?

8. Describe the seed capsule of Dutchman’s breeches. How does it open? How many seeds has it? Compare this with the fruit of squirrel corn and describe the difference.

9. What happens to the leaves of these two plants late in summer? How do the plants manage to get enough sunlight to make food to mature their seed? What preparations have they made for early blossoming the next spring?

JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT

_Teacher’s Story_

“_With hooded heads and shields of green,
Monks of the wooded glen,
I know you well; you are, I ween,
Robin Hood’s merry men._”
--“CHILD’S OWN BOOK OF FLOWERS.”

This little preacher is a prime favorite with all children, its very shape, like that of the pitcher plant, suggesting mystery; and what child could fail to lift the striped hood to discover what might be hidden beneath! And the interest is enhanced when it is discovered that the hood is but a protection for the true flowers, standing upon a club-shaped stem, which has been made through imagination into “Jack,” the little preacher.

Jack-in-the-pulpit prefers wet locations but is sometimes found on dry, wooded hillsides; the greater abundance of blossoms occurs in late May. This plant has another name, which it earned by being interesting below ground as well as above. It has a solid, flattened, food-storehouse called a corm with a fringe of coarse rootlets encircling its upper portion. This corm was used as a food by the Indians, which fact gave the plant the name of Indian turnip. I think all children test the corm as a food for curiosity, and retire from the field with a new respect for the stoicism of the Indian when enduring torture; but this is an undeserved tribute. When raw, these corms are peppery because they are filled with minute, needle-like spicules which, however, soften with boiling, and the Indians boiled them before eating them.

Jack-in-the-pulpit is a near cousin to the calla lily; the white part of the calla and the striped hood over “Jack” are both spathes, and a spathe is a leaf modified for the protection of a flower or flowers. “Jack” has but one leg and his flowers are set around it, all safely enfolded in the lower part of the spathe. The pistillate flowers which make the berries are round and greenish, and are packed like berries on the stalk; they have purple stigmas with whitish centers. The pollen-bearing flowers are mere little projections, almost white in color, each usually bearing four purplish, cup-like anthers filled with white pollen. Occasionally both kinds of flowers may be found on one spadix, (as “Jack” is called in the botanies), the pollen-bearing flowers being set below the others; but usually they are on separate plants. Professor Atkinson has demonstrated that when a plant becomes very strong and thrifty, its spadix will be set with the pistillate flowers and its berries will be many; but if the same plant becomes weak, it produces the pollen-bearing flowers the next year.

When “Jack” first appears in the spring it looks like a mottled, pointed peg, for it is well sheathed. Within this sheath the leaves are rolled lengthwise to a point, and at the very center of the rolled leaves is a spathe, also rolled lengthwise, and holding at its heart the developing flower-buds. It is a most interesting process to watch the unfolding of one of these plants. On the older plants there are two, or sometimes three leaves, each with three large leaflets; on the younger plants there may be but one of these compound leaves, but the leaflets are so large that they seem like three entire leaves.

The spathes, or pulpits, vary in color, some being maroon and white or greenish, and some greenish and white. They are very pretty objects for water-color drawings.

Small flies and some beetles seem to be the pollen carriers for this plant. Various ingenious theories have been suggested to prove that our Jack-in-the-pulpit acts as a trap to imprison visiting insects, as does the English species; but I have studied the flowers in every stage, and have seen the insects crawl out of the hoods as easily as they crawled in, and by the same open, though somewhat narrow, passage between the spadix and the spathe.

After a time the spathe falls away showing the globular, green, shining berries. In August even the leaves may wither away, at which time the berries are brilliant scarlet. Jack-in-the-pulpit is a perennial. It does not blossom the first year after it is a seedling. I have known at least one case where blossoms were not produced until the third year. Below ground, the main corm gives off smaller corms and thus the plant spreads by this means as well as by seeds.

From the Child’s Own Book of Wild Flowers.]

LESSON CXXII

JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT