852 Home Nature-Study Course. 



THE WALNUTS. 



BLACK WALNUT (Juglans nigra). 



butternut or white walnut (Juglans cinerea). 



Teachers and children who have worked out the winter lesson on the 

 walnuts, verifying by direct observation all the points of likeness and 

 difference, are no doubt already able to distinguish Black Walnut and 

 Butternut trees at sight, but if not they may certainly learn to do so 

 when the trees are in bloom, for the leaf and blossom are as distinctive 

 as the fruit. 



Spring Lesson LVL 



THE flower. 



Purpose. — To lead the pupils to mark so closely the points of likeness 

 and difference, that they may be able to tell Black Walnut from Butter- 

 nut the moment that a twig from either tree is seen or handled. 



Material. — If it is impracticable to observe the trees where they are 

 growing, then a few good-sized twigs of both species, bearing staminate 

 and pistillate flowers and unfolding leaves, should be brought to the 

 class and attentively studied. 



Observations by pupils: 



(1). At what time do the walnuts bloom? 



(2). Do staminate and pistillate flowers grow on the same tree, and 

 if so at what part of the twig do they appear? 



(3). Do the flowers grow singly or in clusters? 



(4). Describe, as well as you can, the staminate or pollen-bearing 

 flowers. Do the different species show their difference in the shape 

 of the calyx or the color of the anthers? 



(5). Is the pollen abundant or scanty; do you think it is carried to 

 the pistillate flowers by insects or by the wind ? 



(6). Find the pistillate blossom in the axils of the new shoots of both 

 Walnut and Butternut, noting any difference in the outline of the ovary 

 or seed-vessel, which is to grow into a nut. Are the wide-spreading 

 stigmas at the tips of the blossoms of the same color in both species? 



(7). When picking the pistillate flowers from the twigs do you notice 

 any difference to the sense of touch between the Walnut and the Butter- 

 nut? 



Facts for the teacher. — The flowers of both Black Walnut and Butternut appear 

 in May while the leaves are unfolding; in both species the staminate flowers grow 

 along the side or at the end of the growth of the preceding year, in single, un- 

 branched, drooping, yellowish-green catkins; in both species the staminate calyx 



