Flowerless-Plant Study 701 



2. In what respect does this plant differ from other plants in appear- 

 ance? Can you find any green part to it? 



3. What color is the stem ? Is it the same size its whole length ? Is 

 it smooth or rough ? 



4. Do you see any leaves on the stems? Do you see the black- 

 pointed scales? In which direction do these scales point? Are they 

 united at the bottom? What sort of a ring do they make around the 

 stem? Split a stem lengthwise and see if there are joints, or nodes, where 

 the ring joins the stalk. 



5. How does the "blossom" look? What color are the little discs 

 that make up the blossom? How are the discs set? 



6. Take one of the plants which has the discs surrounded by green 

 ridges. Shake it over a white paper. What comes from it ? Where does 

 it come from? Which discs on the stalk shed the green spores first? 



The Sterile Plants 



Leading thought The horsetail or Equicetum is nourished by very dif- 

 ferent looking stems than those which bore the spores. It lacks leaves, 

 but its branches are green and do the work of making food for the plant. 



Method The sterile plants of the horsetail do not appear for several 

 weeks after the fertile ones ; they are much more numerous, and do not 

 resemble the fertile plants in form or color. These sterile plants may be 

 used for a lesson in September or October. Some of these plants with 

 their roots may be brought into the schoolroom for study. 



Observations i. Has this plant any leaves? How does it make and 

 digest its food without leaves? What part of it is green? Wherever 

 there is green in a plant, there is the chlorophyl-factory for making food. 

 In the horsetail, then, what part of the plant does the work of leaves? 



2. Take off one little branch and study with the lens. How does it 

 look? Pull it apart? Where does it break easily? How many joints, or 

 nodes, are there in the branch? 



3. Study the socket from which one of the segments was pulled off. 

 What do you see around its edge? How many of these points? Look at 

 the branch in cross section. How many angles has it ? What relation do 

 the points bear to the angles? Do you think these points are all there are 

 left of true leaves? 



4. How do the little green branches come off the main stem? How 

 many in a place ? How many whorls of branches on the main stem ? 



5. Study the bases of the branches. What do you see? Look 

 directly above where the whorl of branches comes off the main stem. 

 What do you see? Cut the main stem in cross-section just below this 

 place, and see if there are as many little points as there are angles, or 

 ridges, in the stem. Do you suppose these little points are the remnants 

 of leaves on the main stem ? 



6. What kind of root has the horsetail? Do you think this long 

 running root is the true root or an underground stem? Where are the 

 true roots? Do you think the rootstock dies off at the oldest end each 

 year, like the fern ? Can you find the little tubers in the rootstock, which 

 contain nourishment for next year's spore-bearing stalks? 



