672 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



Photo by Verne Morton 



THE STRAWBERRY 



Teacher's Story 



Of all the blossoms that clothe our open fields, one of the prettiest i s 

 that of the wild strawberry. And yet so influenced is man by his stomach 

 that he seldom heeds this flower except as a promise of a crop of straw- 

 berries. It is comforting to know that the flowers of the field "do not 

 care a rap" whether man notices them or not; insect attentions are what 

 they covet, and they are surely as indifferent to our indifference as it is to 

 them. 



The field strawberry's five petals are little cups of white held up 

 protectingly around a central treasure of anthers and pistils ; each petal 

 has its base narrowed into a little stem, which the botanists call a claw. 

 When the blossom first opens, the anthers are little, flat, vividly lemon- 

 yellow discs, each disc consisting of two clamped together sternly and 

 determinedly as if they meant never to open and yield their gold dust. 

 At the very center of the flower is a little, greenish yellow cone, which if 

 we examine with a lens, we can see is made up of many pistils set together, 

 each lifting up a little, circular, eager stigma high as ever it can reach. 

 Whether all the stigmas receive pollen or not determines the formation of 

 a good strawberry. 



The sepals are slender and pointed and seem to be ten in number, 

 every other one being smaller and shorter than its neighbors ; but the five 

 shorter ones are not sepals but are bracts below the calyx. The sepals 

 unite at their bases so that the strawberry has really a lobed calyx instead 

 of separate sepals. The blossom stem is soft, pinkish and silky and wilts 

 easily. There are several blossoms borne upon one stem and the central 

 one opens first. 



