Wild-Flower Study 



577 



i, Pistillate floret, 2, pap- 

 pus, 3, staminate floret. 

 All enlarged. 



perfect flowers. One of the secrets of the everlasting is, evidently, that it 

 does not put all of its eggs in one basket ; it has a few perfect flowers for 

 insurance. This pistillate or seed-bearing flower has a long, delicate 

 tube, ending in five needlelike points and surrounded by a pretty pappus. 



The bracts of the flower-cluster seem to cling 

 around the base of the beautiful yellow tassel of 

 fertile flowers, as if to emphasize it. They look 

 as if they were made of white Japanese paper, 

 and when looked at through a lens, they resemble 

 the petals of a water lily They are dry to begin 

 with, so they cannot wither. 



The staminate, or pollen-bearing, flower-heads 

 are like white birds' nests, the white bracts form- 

 ing the nest and the little yellow flowers the eggs. 

 The flower has a tubular, five-pointed starlike 

 corolla, with five stamens joined in a tube at the 

 middle, standing up like a barrel from the corolla. 

 The anther-tube is ocher-yellow with brown 

 stripes, and is closed at first with five little flaps, 

 making a cone at the top. Later, the orange-yellow pollen bulges out as 

 if it were boiling over. The flowers around the edges of the flower-disk 

 open first. 



LESSON CXLIV 

 THE PEARLY EVER- 

 LASTING 



Leading thought 

 There are often found 

 growing on the poor 

 soil in dry pastures, 

 clumps of soft, whitish 

 plants which are never 

 eaten by cattle. There 

 is so little juice in 

 them that they retain 

 their form when dried 

 and thus have won 

 their name. 



Method The pu- 

 pils should see these 

 plants growing, so that 

 they may observe the 

 staminate and pistil- 

 late flowers, which 

 are on separate plants 

 and in separate 

 clumps. If this is 

 not (practicable, bring 

 both kinds of flowers 

 into the schoolroom 

 for study. 



The staminate flower-head of pearly everlasting. 



