Lesson CLXIV

The Horseshoe Geranium

Leading thought—The geraniums are very much prized as flowers for ornamental beds. Let us see why they are so valued.

Method—A variety of geranium with single flowers should be chosen for this purpose, and it may be studied in the schoolhouse window or in the garden. As the parts of this flower are of a very general type, it is an excellent one with which to teach the names and purposes of the flower parts. Each child can make a little drawing of the sepals, petals, stamens and pistil, and label them with the proper names.

Observations—1. What sort of a stem has the geranium? Is it smooth or downy? What makes the geranium stem look so rough and untidy?

2. Study the leaf. Show by description or drawing its shape, its wings, its veins. What are its colors and texture above? Beneath? Is the petiole long or short? What grows at the base of the petiole where it joins the stem? What marking is there on the leaf, which makes us call this a “horseshoe geranium?” Are there other geraniums with leaves of similar shape that have no horseshoe mark?

3. Study the flower. Are the petals all the same size and shape? How many of them are broad? How many narrow? Do the narrow ones project in front of the others? Do these have guide-lines upon them? Where do these lines point? Find the nectar-well, how deep is it? Does it extend almost the entire length of the flower stem? For what insects must it have been developed? Are there nectar-tubes in the stems of the geraniums with double flowers? Why?

4. How many sepals are there? Are they all the same size? Where is the largest?

5. How many stamens can you see? What is the color of the filaments and of the anthers? How are the stamens joined at their bases? Can you find any stamens without anthers?

6. Where is the pistil situated? Can you see the ovary, or seed-box? How many stigmas? Describe their color and shape.

7. In what part of the flower will the seeds be developed? How does the geranium fruit look? Sketch the pod. Do the geraniums develop many seeds? Why not? Do you know the seed-pod of the wild geranium? If so, compare it with the pod of this plant.

8. Take a flower cluster when the flowers are all in the bud, and note the following: When the buds first appear, what protects them? What becomes of these bracts later? How do the sepals protect the bud? Are the bud stems upright and stiff or drooping? How many buds are there in a cluster?

9. Take notes on successive days as follows: What happens to the stem as the bud gets ready to bloom? Is it a central or an outside blossom that opens first? How many new blossoms are there each day? How long is it from the time that the first bud opens until the last bud of the cluster blossoms? What has this to do with making the geranium a valuable ornamental plant?

10. Make some geranium cuttings, and note how they develop into new plants. Place one of the cuttings in a bottle of water and describe how its roots appear and grow.

“God made the flowers to beautify
The earth, and cheer man’s careful mood;
And he is happiest who hath power
To gather wisdom from a flower,
And wake his heart in every hour
To pleasant gratitude.”

—Wordsworth.