Wild-Flower Study 



499 



4. How does the bud look when it begins to lift up? Describe the 

 stems and the three little blankets that hold the bud. Ask your teacher 

 how these fuzzy blankets keep the bud from being killed by cold. 



5. Are the hepaticas in your woods all pink, or blue, or white? Do 

 those which are at first pink or blue fade to white later ? Do the blossoms 

 keep open during the night and stormy weather? Why not? Are they 

 all fragrant ? 



6. How many petals has your hepatica? Can you see that the outer 

 ones are sepals, although they look just like the petals? Peel back the 

 three sepal-like bracts and see that they are not a part of the flower at all 

 but join the stem below the flower. 



7. Describe the stamens in the hepatica. How many pistils are 

 there? Does each pistil develop into a seed ? How do the three bracts 

 protect the seeds as they ripen ? 



8. What insects do you find visiting the hepaticas? 



9. Describe a hepatica plant in the woods; mark it so that you will 

 know it, and visit it occasionally during the summer and autumn, noting 

 what happens to it. 



THE YELLOW ADDER'S TONGUE 



Teacher's Story 



"Once a prize was offered to a 

 child if she would find two leaves 

 of the adder's tongue that were 

 marked exactly alike: and she 

 sought long and faithfully, but 

 the only prize she won was a 

 lesson in Nature's book of vari- 

 ations, where no two leaves of 

 anv plant, shrub or tree are 

 exactly alike: for even if ihey 

 seemed so to our eyes, yet there 

 would exist in them differences 

 of strength and growth too subtle 

 for us to detect. But this child 

 was slow in learning this great 

 fact, and, until she was a woman, 

 the adder's tongue leaves, so 

 beautifully embroidered with 

 purple and green, were to her a 

 miracle, revealing the infinite 

 diversity of Nature's patterns." 

 "THE CHILD'S OWN BOOK OP 

 WlLD FLOWERS." 



This little lily of the 

 woods is a fascinating plant. 

 Its leaves of pale green 

 mottled with brownish pur- 

 ple often cover closely large 

 Adder's tongue. irregular areas in the rich 



