108 



SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 



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EXERCISE 35 



Object. — To become familiar with a flower and its parts. 

 Procedure. — Lay on the desk before you (1) the flower 

 of a dicotyledon, such as the apple, pear or petunia ; also 

 (2) the flower of a monocotyledon, as a head of cane, 

 foxtail or millet, which is just in bloom. Beginning at 

 the stem, compare the flower of the dicotyledon before 

 you with the drawing in Figure 34. 



At its base, you find five stiff, green leaf-like organs. 

 These are the sepals; and all of them taken together are 



called the calyx. They 

 afford protection to the 

 'eofl»///> blossom before it opens. 

 Next above these, 

 we find the petals, pure 

 white or bright in color. 

 Whether united, as they 

 are in the petunia, or 

 separate, as in the apple 

 or pear, the petals make up the corolla. These serve to 

 attract insects. 



Next, just inside the corolla, we find a number of small, 

 usually yellow, oblong or round bodies, held erect on tiny 

 stems. These are the stamens. The tiny, thread-like 

 stem of each one is the filament, the body at its tip, the 

 anther, and inside the anther, is a powdery substance 

 called the pollen. 



Lastly, and usually in the center of the flower, we find 

 a part, expanded or divided at the top, and joined by a 

 thread-hke stem somewhat larger than the filament with 

 little seed cavities in the base of the flower. The whole 

 of this central portion is called the pistil; the upper 

 divided or expanded part is the stigma; the lower portion, 



C4in 



Fig. 34. 



dicotyledonous 



