Cultivated-Plant Study 



623 



7. Can you see the beginning 

 of the seed-case when the stigma 

 arises to receive the pollen ? 



8. The flowers project beyond 

 the leaves. Do the ripening seed- 

 cases do this? What happens to 

 their stems to withdraw them be- 

 hind the leaf? 



9. Sketch a nasturtium leaf, 

 and explain why it is like a shield. How 

 does the leaf look when under water? 



10. What sort of stem has the nas- 

 turtium ? How does it manage to climb 

 the trellis? If it has no trellis to climb, 

 does it lie flat upon the ground? 



THE BEE-LARKSPUR 



Teacher's Story 



This common flower of our gardens, send- 

 ing up from a mass of dark, deeply-cut leaves 

 tall racemes of purple or blue flowers, has a 

 very interesting story to tell those who 

 watch it day by day and get acquainted with 

 it and its insects guests. The brilliant color 

 of the flowers is due to the sepals, which are 

 purple or blue, in varying shades; but as if to 

 show that they are sepals instead of petals, each 

 has on the back side near its tip, a green thick- 

 ened spot. If we glance up the flower stalk, 

 we can see that, in the upper buds, the sepals 

 are green, but in the lower buds they begin to 

 show the blue color; and in a bud just ready 

 to open, we can see that the blue sepals are 

 each tipped with a green knob, and this remains 

 green after the sepals expand. The upper and 

 rearmost sepal is prolonged into a spur, which 

 forms the outside covering of the nectar-spur; 

 it is greenish and wrinkled like a long-wristed, 

 suede glove ; two sepals spread wide at the sides 

 and two more below. All this expanse of blue 

 sepals is simply for a background for the petals, 

 which, by their contrasting color, show the bees 

 where to probe for nectar. Such inconsequen- 

 tial petals as they are! Two of them "hold 

 hands" to make an arch over the entrance to 

 the nectar tube; and just below these on each 

 side are two more tiny, fuzzy, spreading petals, 

 often notched at the tip and always hinged in 

 a peculiar way about the upper petal; thev stand 



The bee-lark spur. 

 Photo by Cyrus Crosby. 



guard at the door 



to the nectar storehouse. If we peel off the wrinkled sepal-covering 



