582 Haitdbook of Nature-Study 



5. Where Jo the flower-stems spring from the main stalk? Do the 

 flowers grow singly or in clusters ? Do the blossoms all open at nearly the 

 same time or form a succession of bud, flower and seed on the same stem? 



6. Study the parts of the flower. Find the four sepals and describe 

 the shape and position of each. Describe the nectar-sac in the nectar- 

 horn. Can you find the two petals? Can you see that each petal has a 

 lobe near where it joins the stem? Find the little knob hanging down 

 above the entrance of the nectar-sac; of what is it composed? Look at it 

 with a lens, and tell how many stamens unite to make the knob? Where 

 is the pollen and what is its color? What insect do you think could 

 reach the nectar at the bottom of the spurred sac? Could any insect get 

 at the nectar without rubbing its back against the flat surface of the 

 pollen boxes? What remains after the stamens fall off? Describe how 

 the bees do the work of poUenation of the jewelweeds. Write or tell as a 

 story your own observations on the actions of the different bees visiting 

 these flowers. 



7. Carefully observe a seed-capsule without touching it ; can you see 

 the lines of separation between its sections? How many are there? 

 What happens when the pod is touched? Are the loosened sections 

 attached at the stem, or at the apex of the pod? Hold a pod at arm's 

 length when discharging its contents and measure the distance to which 

 the seeds are thrown. Of what use is this habit of seed-throwing to the 

 plant? 



8. Describe the difiierences in shape and color between the pale yellow 

 and the orange jewelweeds. Watch to see if the same insects visit both. 

 Which species do you think is best suited to the bumblebees? 



MULLEIN 

 Teacher's Story 



"I like the plants that you call weeds, — 

 Sedge, hardhaclt, mullein, yarrow, — 

 Which knit their leaves and sift their seeds 

 Where any grassy wheel-track leads 

 Through country by-ways narrow." 



— Lucy Larcom. 



We take much pride unto ourselves because we belong to the chosen 

 few of the "fittest," which have survived in the struggle for existence. 

 But, if we look around upon other members of this select band, we 

 shall find many lowly beings which we do not ordinarily recognize as our 

 peers. Mullein is one of them, and after we study its many ways of 

 "winning out" then may we bow to it and call it "brother." 



I was wandering one day m a sheep pasture and looking curiously at 

 the few plants left uneaten. There was a great thistle with its sharp 

 spines and the pearly everlasting — too woolly and anaemic to be appetiz- 

 ing even to a sheep; and besides these, there was an army of mullein 

 stalks — tall, slim, and stiff-necked, or branching like great candelabra, 

 their upper leaves adhering alternately to the stalks for half their 

 length. I stopped before one of them and mentally asked, "Why do 



