Cultivated-Plant Study 



637 



and the seeds have ripened, these bracts flare open, making a wide- 

 mouthed urn from which the ripened seeds are shaken by the winds; and 

 after the seeds are gone, 

 the white fuzz of their 

 empty cases remains at 

 the bottom of the urn. 

 The seed is plump and 

 shining, with a short 

 fringe of pappus around 

 the top and a contracted 

 place at one side near 

 the base where it grew 

 fast to the receptacle; 

 for these seeds are not set 

 on end, as are those of 

 the sunflower. The short 

 pappus is hardly suffici- 

 ent to buoy up the seed, 

 and yet undoubtedly 

 aids it to make a fl\ ing 

 jump with the passing 

 breeze. 



LESSON CLXI 



THE BACHELOR'S 



BUTTON 



Leading'-^ thought 

 Each bachelor's button 

 is made up of many 

 little flowers which may 

 be studied by the outline 

 given in Lesson CXXXV. 



THE SALVIA, OR 

 SCARLET SAGE 



Teacher's Story 



The flower story ol 

 the sage is so peculiar 

 that Darwin has used it 

 to illustrate the mechan- 

 isms present in some 

 flowers which the visit- 

 ing insects must work in 

 order to get the nectar. 

 The scarlet sage, which 

 gladdens our flower beds 

 during the summer and 

 autumn with its bril- 

 liance, has as interesting 



\ 



The sah'ia, or scarlet sage, showing the bracts still 

 present u/.vnv and falling as the flowers open. 



