662 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



the tips are split and injured. The edges of the com leaf are ruffled 

 and, where the leaf leaves the stalk, there is a wide fold in the 

 edge at either side; this arrangement gives play for a sidewise 

 movement without breaking the leaf margins. The leaf is thus 

 protected from the wind, whether it is struck from above or hori- 

 zontally. The true roots of the com plant go quite deep into 

 the soil, but are hardly adequate to the holding of such a tall, 



slender stalk upright 

 in a wind storm; 

 therefore, all about 

 the base of the plant 

 are brace-roots, which 

 serve to hold the stalk 

 erect — like the stay- 

 ropes about a flagpole. 



The Ear of Corn 

 The ears of com 

 are borne at the joints 

 or nodes; and the 

 stalk, where the ear 

 presses against it, is 

 hollowed out so as to 

 hold it snugly; this is 

 very suggestive of a 

 mother holding a baby 

 in her arms. In the 

 following ways, the 

 husks show plainly 

 that they are modified 

 leaves : The hu sk has 

 the same structure as 

 the leaf, having paral- 

 lel veins; it comes off 

 the stem like a leaf; 

 it is often green, and 

 therefore does the 

 work of a leaf; it changes to leaf shape at the tip of the ear, 

 thus showing that the husk is really that part of the leaf which 

 usually clasps the stem. If a husk tipped with a leaf is examined, 

 the rain-guard will be found at the place where the two join. 

 As a matter of fact, the ear of com is on a branch stalk which has iDeen 

 very much shortened, so that the nodes are very close together, and there- 

 fore the leaves come off close together. By stripping the husks back one 

 by one, the change from the outside, stiff, green leaf structure to the 

 inner delicate, papery wrapping for the seed, may be seen in all its stages. 

 This is a beautiful lesson in showing how the maize protects its seed, and the 

 husk may well be compared to the clothing of a baby. The pistillate 

 flowers of the com, which finally develop into the kernels, grow in pairs 

 alongthe sides of the end portion of the shortened stalk, which is what we 

 callthe "cob." Therefore, the ear willshowan evennumber of rows, and 



The pollen-hearing flowers of corn. 



