754 Home Nature-Study Course. 



bark is very dark grayish brown, smooth, specked with Httle dots, which are the 

 lenticels or breathing pores. If the season's growth has been rapid the new twigs 

 are lighter in color, but when stunted by drouth or poor soil the difference ni color 

 is very little. The wood is white, very tough and hbrous with a pith or heart-wood 

 of softer substance and yellow in color. The leaves are alternate and the leaf buds 

 appear at the tips of the season's twigs while the blossoms grow at the axils of 

 the leaves. 



Lesson X. 



THE WITCH-HAZEL LEAVES. 



Purpose. — To teach the children to recognize the plant by its leaves. 



Material. — A twig or one or two leaves on the desk of each pupil. 



Observations. — (i). What is the general shape of the leaf? 



(2). Is it more pointed at the base or tip? 



(3). Are the leaves regular in form or larger on one side than the 

 other ? 



(4). Are their edges entire, toothed or wavy? 



(5). Are the petioles short or long? 



(6). Are the veins straight or branching? Are they prominent? 



(7). Are the leaves of the same color on both sides? 



(8). Are there many queer-shaped, little swellings on the leaf above 

 and below? See how many of these you can find. 



(9). Tell what you think they are. 



Facts for the Teacher. — The witch-hazel leaf is nearly as broad as it is long, 

 bluntly pointed at its tip, with a stem generally less than one-half inch in length. 

 The sides are unequal in size and shape, and the edges are roughly scalloped. The 

 veins are straight with depressions on the upper side but very prominent beneath 

 and lighter in color than the rest of the leaf. Witch-hazel leaves are likely to be 

 apartment houses for insects, especially the insects that make galls. Of these there 

 are many species, each making a different shaped gall. One of the most common 

 is a gall shaped like a little horn or spur on the u])pcr side of the leaf which has a 

 tiny door opening on the under side of the leaf. If one of these snug little homes 

 is torn open it will be found occupied by a community of little aphids or plant-lice. 



Lesson XL 



FLOWER OF THE WITCH-HAZEL, 



Purpose. — To lead the pupils to observe the beauty and strangeness 

 of the witch-hazel blossom. 



