622 Handbook of Nature-Study 



responsibility and grows quite stocky, often lifting the plant a foot or two 

 in height, and from its summit sending out a fountain of leaf and flower 

 stems. 



The nasturtium is among the most interesting and beautiful of our 

 garden flowers, and will thrive in any warm, sunny, fairly moist place. 

 Its combinations of color are exceedingly rich and brilliant. H. H. says 

 of it: 



"How carelessly it wears the velvet of the same 

 Unfathomed red, which ceased when Titian ceased 

 To paint it in the robes of doge and priest." 



LESSON CLVII 

 THE NASTURTIUM 



Leading thought The nasturtium has a special arrangement by which 

 it sends its own pollen to other flowers and receives pollen from other 

 flowers by insect messengers. 



Method The nasturtiums and their foliage should be brought into the 

 schoolroom in sufficient quantity so that each child may have a leaf and a 

 flower for study. The object of the lesson is to interest the pupils in 

 studying, in their gardens, one flower from the bud until the petals wither, 

 taking note of what happens each day and keeping a list of the insect 

 visitors. 



Observations i. Look at the back of the flower. What is there 

 peculiar about the sepals? How many sepals are there? How many join 

 to make the spur? What is in this spur? Taste of the tip. Find where 

 the nectar is. 



2. Look the flower in the face. How do the two upper petals differ 

 in shape from the three lower ones? What markings are there on the 

 upper petals? Where do these lines point? Are there any markings on 

 the sepals pointing in the same direction? If an insect visiting a flower 

 should follow these lines, where would it go? 



3. Describe the shape of the lower petals. Suppose a little ant were 

 on one of these petals and she tried to pass over to the nectar-tube or spur, 

 would the fringes hinder her? 



4. Look down the throat of the spur, and tell what a bee or other 

 insect would have to crawl over before it could get at the nectar. 



5. In your garden, or in the bouquet in the window if you cannot visit 

 a garden, select a nasturtium that is just opening and watch it every day, 

 making the following notes : When the blossom first opens where are the 

 eight stamens? Are the unripe, closed anthers lifted so as to be in the 

 path of the bee which is gathering nectar? How do the anthers open? 

 How is the pollen held up in the path to the nectar? Can you see the 

 stigma of this flower? Where is it? Note the same flower on successive 

 days: How many anthers are open and shedding pollen to-day? Are 

 they all in the same position as yesterday? What happens to the anthers 

 which have shed their pollen ? 



6. When the stigma rises in the nectar path, how does it look? 

 Where are all the anthers when the stigma raises its three tines to rake the 

 pollen off the visiting insect ? Do you know why it is an advantage to the 

 nasturtium to develop its seed by the aid of the pollen from another plant? 



