It may not be very long until some schoolmate or someone older than you will say, “I know something that you don’t. You would like to know it and I will tell you, if you will not tell your papa and mamma about it.” Now, girls, whenever someone wants to tell you something and asks you not to tell your mamma and papa, you may be sure that it is wrong, that it will injure you, and most likely it is false. Mamma and papa would advise you to say to them, “We don’t want to hear anything that we cannot talk about to mamma and papa.”
Story of the plants.—The story of life that papa will tell you to-day will be about the plants, vegetables and trees, how their young come into the world. Papa has gathered some beautiful flowers with which to illustrate the story. This will be our first lesson in Botany. Every part of a plant has special names. Many of the names are too difficult for you to remember. When you get older you will learn and remember the names. The story of life in all flowering plants begins in the flower.
The outer parts.—At sight, we notice that the many parts of a flower are arranged in whorls or circles. The outer whorl is called the (1) calix. You will notice that in some of these flowers, the calix is highly colored, in others it looks like little green leaves and in some of the flowers the calix is absent. You will observe that in some flowers the calix is composed of four or more parts. These separate parts are called (2) sepals. In other flowers the sepals have grown together so they appear to be only one sepal. In such flowers we count the sepals by the small notches on top.
The second whorl is called the (3) corolla. This whorl is usually the most highly colored part of the flower. If either of these whorls is absent in a flower, it is the calix. Sometimes both whorls are absent. The separate parts of the corolla are called (4) petals. Sometimes the petals are separate from the base of the flower. In other flowers they are more or less united.
The papa parts.—While the calix and corolla form the most attractive and beautiful parts, they are not the most important parts of a flower. The prettiest things are not always the best or most useful things. Let us now carefully examine these central organs. They are called the essential organs. Were it not for these organs in the flowers, no new grasses, plants, vegetables and trees would come into this world. Such a misfortune would rob this world of most of its beauty and much of its value. In this flower, the next whorl consists of a number of small slender organs. These are called (5) stamens. They are the father parts of the flower and possess the father nature. On top of these organs are little delicate bodies, poised lightly, and filled with a very fine dust. These little bodies are called (6) anthers. The fine grains of powder are called pollen. You can rub the pollen off with your finger. This dust varies slightly in color in different flowers.
The mamma parts.—The central organ in this flower is called the pistil. The pistil is composed of three parts. At the base of the pistil is the (7) pod, more correctly called the ovary. In the ovary little seed are formed. On top of the ovary is a slender organ called the style. On top of the style is a spongy enlargement called the (9) stigma. The stigma, style and ovary form the mother part of the flower and possess the mother nature. In some plants each flower has more than one pistil.
