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Handbook of Nature-Study 



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 i . 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 stamen? 

 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? 



Design for embroidery from adder's tongue. 

 Drawn by Evelvn Mitchell for Child's Own Book of Wild Flowers, 



