492 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



HOW TO TEACH THE NAMES OF THE PARTS OF A FLOWER 



AND OF THE PLANT 



HE 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. 



' c ...< "This arbutus which James brought has a pretty little pink bell for a 



corolla." 



Stamens 



A flower with the parts named. 



"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 



A flower with petals 



united forming a 



tube, and with 



sepals likewise 



united. 



