. Handbook of nature-study for teachers and parents, based on the Cornell nature-study leaflets. Nature study. 500 Handbook of Nature-Stiidy soil of our woodlands; and yet I doubt if the underground story of these forest rugs is often thought of. The leaves are twins, and to the one who plucks them carelessly they seem to come from one slender stem. It requires muscle as well as decision of character to follow this weak stem down several inches, by digging around it, until Vv^e find the corm at its base. A corm is the swollen base of a stem and is bulb-like in form; but it is not made up of la
. Handbook of nature-study for teachers and parents, based on the Cornell nature-study leaflets. Nature study. 500 Handbook of Nature-Stiidy soil of our woodlands; and yet I doubt if the underground story of these forest rugs is often thought of. The leaves are twins, and to the one who plucks them carelessly they seem to come from one slender stem. It requires muscle as well as decision of character to follow this weak stem down several inches, by digging around it, until Vv^e find the corm at its base. A corm is the swollen base of a stem and is bulb-like in form; but it is not made up of layers, as is a bulb. It is a store- house for food and also a means of spreading the species; for from the corms there grow little corms called cormels, and each cormel develops a separate plant. This underground method of reproduction is the secret of why the leaves of the adder's tongue appear in patches, closely crowded together. Only a few of the plants in a "patch" produce flowers, and it is inter- esting to see how cleverly these lily bells hide from the casual eye. Like many of the lilies, the three sepals are petal-like and are identified as sepals only by their outside position, al- though they are thicker in texture. They are purplish brown outside, which serves to render the flower inconspicuous as we look down upon it; on the inner side, they are a pure yellow, spotted with darker yellow near where they join the stem. The three petals are pure yellow, paler outside than in, and they have dark spots like the tiger lilies near the heart of the flower; and where they join the stem, each has on each side an ear-shaped lobe. The open flower is bell-shaped; and like other bells it has a clapper, or tongue. This is formed by six downward-hanging stamens, the yel- low filaments of which have broad bases and taper to points where the oblong anthers join them. The anthers are red or yellow. It is this stamen clapper that the visiting insects must cling to when probin
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Keywords: ., bookauthorcomstockannabotsford1, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910
