NATURE STUDY MADE EASY 



121 



STEMS 



CLASS 40 pupils. 

 AGES 9 to 10. 

 TIME 30 minutes. 



AIM 



(to cultivate power of observation, love of nature, 

 to 



teach method of stem growth. 



OBSERVATION AND ILLUSTRATION 



I. Show any plant with erect stem, 

 e.g. geranium. Elicit reason for its 

 position. 



Notice texture, whether herbaceous or 

 woody. 



Show potato ; show eye, will produce 

 leaf bud ; hence, potato tuber is under- 

 ground stem full of nourishment for young 

 plant of next season. 



Show Solomon's seal not root but 

 underground stem. 



II. Compare erect stem of geranium 

 with creeping stem of strawberry. Why 

 does it creep ? What is the use of run- 

 ners? A method of propagating plant. 

 Strawberry, or strayberry, strays and 

 creeps along ground. 



Show honeysuckle and convolvulus. 

 Elicit the fact that these plants climb by 

 means of steins, twining around any sup- 

 port they meet. Show how plants of a 

 kind coil alike : in same direction, left 

 to right ; others in opposite direction 

 right to left. Ivy always twines from 

 left to right. 



I. USE 



INFERENCE 



To hold plant to air or light. 

 To carry food from the root to 

 produce buds. 



II. MAN- 

 NER OF 

 GROWTH 



Erect. 



Creeping. 



Twining. 



!by tendrils, e.g. pea. 

 by rootlets, e.g. ivy. 

 by thorns, e.g. wild 

 rose. 

 Underground. 



