Cultivated-Plant Study 



613 



3. Take off the two outer petals and study the two inner ones. 

 What is their shape near the base? How are their parts shaped wliich 

 project beyond the outer petals? What does the spoon-end of these 

 petals cover? Can you find the hinge in these petals? 



4. Where are the stamens? How many are there? Describe the 

 shape of the stamens near the base. How are they united at the tip ? 



5. Where is the stigma? The style? The ovary? 



6. Supposing a bee is after the nectar, where must she rest while 

 probing for it? Can she get the nectar without pushing against the flat 

 orojecting portion of the inner petals? When she pushes these spoon- 

 bowls back, what happens ? Does she get dusted with pollen ? After she 

 leaves, does the door swing back ? Suppose she visits another flower which 

 has shed its pollen, will she carry pollen to its stigma? Does she have to 

 ■rork the hinged door to do this? 



Poppies. 

 Drawn by Anna C. Stryke. 



THE POPPIES 



Teacher's Story 

 ERHAPS we might expect that a plant which 

 gives strange dreams to those who eat of its 

 juices should not be what it seems in appear- 

 ance. I know of nothing so deceptive as the 

 appearance of the poppy buds, which, rough 

 and hairy, droop so naturally that it seems as 

 if their weight must compel the stem to bend; 

 and yet, if we test it, we find the stem is as stiff 

 as if made of steel wire. Moreover, the flower 

 and the ripened seed-capsule must be far heavier than the bud; and 

 yet, as soon as the flower is ready to open, the stem straightens up, 

 although it does not always remove the traces of the crook; and after 

 the capsule is full of ripened seed, the stem holds it up particularly stiff , 

 as if inviting the wind to shake out the seeds. 



The rough covering of the bud consists of two sepals, as can be easily 

 seen ; but if we wish to see the poppy shed its sepals, we must get up in the 

 morning, for the deed is usually done as soon as the first rays of the early 

 sun bring their message of a fair day. The sepals break oil at their base 

 and fall to the ground. The two opposite outer petals unfold, leaving the 



