Wild-Flower Study 



587 



that the spiny bracts at the tip of the flower-head are longer and more 

 awesome than those at the sides; if we pass our hands down over the 

 flower-head we feel how stiff the spines, or bracts are, and can hear them 

 crackle as they spring back. 



The teasel has a quite original method of blossoming. The goldenrod 

 begins to blossom at the tip of the flowering branches and the blossom-tide 

 runs inward and downward toward the base. The clover begins at the 

 base and blossoms toward the tip, or the center. But the teasel begins at 

 the middle and blossoms both ways, and how it knows just where to begin 

 is more than we can tell. But some summer morning we will find its 

 flower-head girt about its middle with a wide band of purple blossoms; 

 after a few days, these fade and drop off, and then there are two bands, 

 sometimes four rows of flowers in each, and sometimes only two. Below 

 the lower band and above the upper band, the enfolding bracts are filled 

 with little, round-headed lilac buds, while between the two rows of blos- 

 soms the protecting bracts hold the precious growing seed. Away from 

 each other this double procession moves, until the lower band reaches the 

 pronged involucre and the upper one forms a solid patch on the apex of the 

 flower-head. Since the secondary blossom-heads starting from the leaf 

 axils are younger, we may find all stages of this blossoming in the flower- 

 heads of one plant. 



No small flower pays better for close examination than does that of the 

 teasel. If we do not pull the flower-head apart, what we see is a little 

 purple flower consisting of a white tube with four purple lobes at the end, 

 the lower lobe being a little longer than the others and turning up slightly 

 at its tip; projecting from between 

 each of the lobes, and fastened to the 

 tube, are four stamens with long, 

 white filaments and beautiful purple 

 anthers filled with large, pearly white 

 pollen grains ; at the very heart of 

 the flower, the w r hite stigma may be 

 seen far down the tube. But a little 

 later, after the anthers have fallen 

 or shriveled, the white stigma extends 

 out of the blossom like a long, white 

 tongue and is crowded with white 

 pollen grains. 



But to see the flower completely, 

 we need to break or cut a flower-head 

 in two. Then we see that the long 

 white tube is tipped at one end with 

 purple lobes and a fringe of anthers, 

 and at the other is set upon a little 

 green, fluffy cushion which caps the 

 ovary ; the shape of the ovary in the 

 flower tells us by its form how the 

 seed will look later. Enfolding ovary 

 and tube is the bract with its spiny 



,/' 



, Teasel flower and seed enlarged. The stigma 



s ' P l of a teasel floret much magnified to show 



outward, but not so far out as the 

 opening of the flower, for that might 



'the pollen adhering to it. Below, are 

 pollen grains greatly magnified. 



