Teachers' Leaflet. 



553 



and to call their attention to the work of the bees as pollen 

 carriers. 



Observe that on all the tv/igs the buds are alternate and that none are 

 strictly terminal. Compare the scales which cover the buds with those 

 of other trees; notice that the bud is protected by a single scale, which 

 soon falls off. Note that as the pussies develop those on one twig may 

 be very different from those on another. Note that from the soft fur 

 of one will come the silvery stamens tipped with golden or purple 

 anthers. Note the anther is a two-celled pollen box filled with pollen, 

 which falls with every breath or jar as they ripen. Note that the other 

 kind of flowers are smaller, greenish-gray and not so soft and furry. 

 These are the pistillate catkins each consisting cvf many blossoms, and 

 every pistil having its own silky scale. After the pollen has fertilized 

 these blossoms they will turn to tiny pods, two-valved and beak-like, 

 which open like the milkweed seed, setting free the tiny seed balloons 

 within them. When these fuzzy seeds are being set free people say that 

 the willows " shed cotton." 



After the pupils have studied in the 

 schoolroom these different blossoms and 

 come to understand that the pretty 

 pussies are simply the pollen-bearing 

 catkins, they should make observations 

 in the field. 



The pollen-bearing flowers of the 

 willow are almost the earliest food which 

 the bees find in the spring; they are at 

 their prettiest in April, and at that time 

 a pussy willow tree is filled with the hum 

 of the bees working upon its blossoms. 

 The bees visit these blossoms for the 

 pollen, which they eat and make into bee- 

 bread for feeding their young. There is 

 no honey developed in these flowers, but 

 the pistillate blossoms develop some nec- 

 tar so that the bees covered with pollen 

 will visit them, and thus bring to them 

 the precious life-giving dust. In June 

 the willow seed is ripe and the pupils 

 should carry on their observations until 

 thev see these masses of fuzzy, seed 



balloons scattered everywhere by the PoUen bearing catkins of the 

 wind. willow, " Pussies." 



