Read Ebook: Flowers and their friends by Morley Margaret Warner

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PAGE MORNING-GLORY STORIES 1 THE FLOWER 3 THIS IS THE FLOWER SO BRIGHT AND GAY 11 THE CALYX 13 BLOSSOM DEAR 14 WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GARDEN 16 THE OVULES 23 THE LEAVES 27 TO THE MORNING-GLORY 29 THE CONVOLVULUS FAMILY 30

STORIES ABOUT THE GERANIUM FAMILY 47 TROPAEOLUM STORIES: TROPAEOLUM HONEY 49 THE TROPAEOLUM 50 WHO LIES CURLED UP 57 MORE ABOUT THE TROPAEOLUM 58 JEWELWEED STORIES: A DAINTY CAVE 65 TOUCH-ME-NOT 66 EARDROPS 71 LADY'S SLIPPER 72 THE HUMMING BIRD 74 PELARGONIUM STORIES: THE PELARGONIUMS 75 AN AFRICAN 80 PELARGONIUM LEAVES 81 THE GERANIUM FAMILY 84

HYACINTH STORIES 93 THE HYACINTH 95 SIGNS OF SPRING 96 THE HYACINTH'S SCEPTRE 98 TUNICS 99 THE BEE 104

STORIES ABOUT ALL SORTS OF THINGS 105 NECTAR GUIDES 107 CELLS 108 POLLEN CELLS 120 THE POLLEN 127 THE ANTHERS 128 OVULE CELLS 129 CHLOROPHYLL 134 ROOT CELLS 144 SKIN CELLS 148 TUBE CELLS 162 STRENGTHENING CELLS 165 WE AND THE PLANT PEOPLE 168 WHAT ARE THE FLOWERS MADE OF 176 WHAT BECOMES OF THE FLOWERS 181 NOTHING BUT LEAVES 191 SIGNS OF OTHER TIMES 214 WHY ARE THE FLOWERS SO LARGE AND BRIGHT 218 HOW MOTHER NATURE MAKES NEW FLOWERS 223 TONGUES AND TUBES 231

Morning-Glory Stories.

THE FLOWER.

The morning-glory and the bracted bindweed might be taken for sisters, they look so much alike. There is no doubt but that they are closely related, although the bindweed grows wild and the morning-glory has to be sown by us.

The bindweed lives in the country and twines over the hedges by the roadside; you can see its pink-and-white flowers all summer long if you look in the right places.

It is a jolly sort of life the bindweed leads, always twining, twining, twining, with its leaves facing the sunshine and its flowers dancing on their slender stems.

We often call the bindweed the wild morning-glory, and we and the bees are fond of it. We enjoy looking at it, and probably the bees do, too, though they have yet another reason for liking it. Just watch one go into a wild morning-glory some fine day. You will think she expects to find something very delightful indeed from the way she hurries in. And so she does. She buzzes down the white line to the very bottom of the flower, crowds her head as far in as she can get it, and then thrusts her long brown tongue yet deeper in to where the honey lies. For the flower makes honey for the bee, and keeps it hidden as deep as possible. There are five openings in the bottom of the flower cup that go straight into the honey wells. You need only look into a morning-glory and you will see them. All kinds of morning-glories, as well as the bindweeds, have them.

The bees know this, and wherever you see the morning-glories you will see their little winged friends.

Very many flowers provide honey for the insects, and it is fortunate for us that they do; for if they did not, we should see no butterflies and have no honey, for butterflies and bees cannot live without the honey the flowers give them.

Flower honey has a special name; we often call it nectar, for a good reason which I mean to tell you another time.

The places where the nectar is stored are the nectar holders, or nectaries.

It must be a fine thing to go to a flower and take a drink of honey whenever you wish; but what will you say when I tell you the bees get bread as well as honey from the flowers?

For beebread is much more nutritious than the bread we eat. In fact, it takes the place of meat and eggs and milk and all the other things we take such pains to get.

You do not see where a bee finds bread in a flower?

That is because you are not a bee. If you were, you would know at once.

Suppose you watch a bee go into a morning-glory.

She will be in a great hurry, and you will have to keep your eyes open, or all will be over before you know what has happened.

She will suck up the honey, and then very likely she will turn around and around on the white pole-like part that stands up in the middle of the flower. She is not doing this for fun, nor because she is confused and does not know which way to go next.

She is gathering fine flour of which to make beebread.

Put your finger into the morning-glory and you, too, may gather this fine flour.

Then she goes home and packs her load away in the hive for future use.

You see it is not much trouble to make beebread--that is, if you know how. It does not have to be raised or baked, yet I doubt if you or I would be able to make it so that a bee would consider it fit to eat.

Since there are five anthers there are five filaments.

But this is not all there is to be found in a morning-glory flower. There is something else, and if it were not for this something else we should not have the fun of learning about honey and stamens, because there would be none! Both honey and stamens exist because of this something else.

It is in the very center of the flower, and the stamens stand about it in a circle. It stands up like a pole and has a knob at the top. The knob sticks out above the stamens as a rule. When the flower cup falls, the stamens fall too, because the filaments grow fast to it. But this something else does not fall. It stays on the vine, and you can see it better after the flower cup has fallen.

So now you see how very important it is, and I would advise you to take another look at it.

If there were no seeds there could be no more plants, so the growth of the seed is a matter of great importance.

When the seed first begins to form it is tiny and soft and delicate. It is attached to the inside of the ovary, and we do not then call it a seed, but an ovule. The word "ovule" means "little egg," and the ovules are really the eggs of the plant, as you will agree if you think a moment.

If all goes well, the tiny, soft ovule becomes a large, hard seed. But it cannot do this alone; it needs help. Probably you never could guess what helps it, so I will tell you at once: it is the pollen.

If a pollen grain can unite with an ovule, the two thus joined together can grow into a seed. So you see the flower does not provide pollen for the use of the bee alone. It makes it for its own seed-children.

But the bee is the messenger that carries the pollen to the ovule. You see the pollen grain of our morning-glory lies in the anther below the stigma, and it must reach the stigma so as to find its way down to the ovary. Just how all this comes about you will know later; only now remember that the pollen must get to the stigma, and that the bee puts it there. Not on purpose, though. The bee collects pollen for her own use, but in doing so touches the stigma with her pollen-covered body, and some of the pollen grains stick to the stigma instead of remaining on the bee.

You will know a great deal more about this later.

So we see the pollen is made for the sake of the seeds. The honey is also made for the sake of the seeds, for it attracts the insects that are necessary to fertilize the flower. Even the flower cup has its bright and beautiful coloring to attract the attention of the insects and call them to it. The name of the flower cup is the "corolla," and means "a little crown" or "garland."

The corolla is not the only covering the inner parts have. Look at the end of the flower next the stem and you will see the green calyx. When the corolla falls off, the calyx stays and protects the tender ovary. The calyx has five parts, or sepals, and these fold about the ovary like a green cup and keep it safe.

When the ovules are ready for the pollen, the flower puts on its beautiful garland as a sign that the life of the plant is to be renewed.

When we look at the flowers in the fields and gardens we may know that their loveliness is also a promise for the future.

THIS IS THE FLOWER SO BRIGHT AND GAY.

Most flowers have, like the morning-glory, corolla, stamens, and nectar to assist the pistil in developing the seeds.

The sweet pea has, and somebody once told a story about it that I am going to tell you, because I think it will help you to remember the parts of the flower and their uses.

This is the flower so bright and gay.

BECAUSE

the ovule hid in the ovary, the ovary stood under the style, the style led from the stigma, the stigma brushed the bee, the bee gathered the pollen, the pollen lay in the anther, the anther grew on the stamen, and the stamen lived in the flower so bright and gay!

The calyx is green.

The calyx is strong.

The calyx protects the ovary.

It has five sepals--five green sepals.

They overlap like the tiles on a roof and thus protect the ovary from rain. They also protect it from insects that otherwise might destroy it.

The calyx covers the base of the corolla and forms a green urn, a little vase, in which to hold it secure from harm.

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