282 



LESSOIfS WITS PLANTS 



bloom early and others bloom late in order to escape compe- 

 tition. This is only a generalization. The witch-hazel, like every 



other plant, must be patiently 



investigated for itself. It is 



not unique in its habit of 



autumn blooming. Residents 



in the Gulf states and Cali- 

 fornia will recall the loquat 



(often wrongly called Japan 



plum), one of the rose family, 



which blooms from November 



until Christmas, and ripens its 



pleasant acid fruits in the 

 spring. The teacher may be interested in 

 discussions on the philosophy of the flower 

 seasons in American Naturalist, September, 

 1893, by Henry L. Clarke, and in Essay 

 XVII., in "The Survival of the Unlike." 



332. The edible part of the cocoa-nut is a seed. 

 As it generally arrives in the market 

 it is closely enveloped in a husk, which 

 is formed from the pericarp. Fig. 

 281 shows young nuts, shortly after 

 the flowers have fallen. 

 The nut, a, is enveloped 

 with three petals and three 

 sepals. These parts have 

 enlarged somewhat in 6, 

 but the pericarp has greatly 

 elongated. The floral en- 

 velopes are enlarged and 

 spread by the growth of 



Pig. 284. 

 Chestnut oak 



Fi«. 285. 



Swamp white 



oak. 



