A FEW IMPORTANT PLANT FAMILIES 81 
EXERCISES AND PROJECTS 
1. A head of wheat. — (a) Pull off the spikelets from a head of wheat, 
and note how they are attached — alternately, on opposite sides of the 
stem. Note the jointed form of the stem where the spikelets are at- 
tached. 
(b) Examine a spikelet and see how many flowers or grains it con- 
tains. Compare with other spikelets and see which part of the head is 
least fruitful. 
(c) When the wheat is in bloom, examine the flower. Note the 
scales of chaff that take the place of calyx and corolla. How many 
stamens do you find? Note the 
pistil, —the ovary or grain, and 
the feathery stigmas. Make a 
drawing of these parts. 
2. Stooling or tillering. —Pull 
up an entire plant of wheat or 
other grain and note the number 
of stems or stalks. Examine the 
root carefully and note how the 
stems are connected, showing 
that they belong to the same 
plant and came from one seed. 
3. Stem and leaf of grasses. 
—(a) Note the hollow stem FLOWERS OF THE SQUASH 
with solid joints. This con- a, staminate or male flower on its long 
struction secures the greatest slender stem; 5, pistillate or female flower 
strength with the least expendi- with young squash below the corolla. 
ture of material. A solid stem ; 
made out of the same quantity of material would be very thin and weak. 
(b) Tear a leaf and see how easily it splits, showing that it is parallel 
veined. Note how firmly the lower part of it clasps the stem and thus 
strengthens it. 
4. Grasses and sedges. — Note carefully the characteristics of sedges 
as given at the close of the article on the grasses. Find some sedges in a 
wet meadow or by the water’s edge and compare them with true grasses. 
Try to find several kinds of sedges and study them until you can distin- 
guish the two classes of plants with ease. 
