Introduction

/ /^^<J.eic.^�--�^ i^ W'^ r LUI -,,��^C BOSTON: GINN AND COMPANY. 1887. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by GINN AND COMPANT, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. Electrottted by J. S. Gushing & Co., Bostok. (^ PREFACE. The one actual expense about the use of the Primer will be a compound microscope. The lessons may often prove unduly long for the capac- ity of the class or for the length of the recitation period. One lesson may furnish material for three or four succes- sive recitations. This matter of adjustment must be left to individual cases. There are many ungraded schools in which the present number of classes resolutely forbids any fixed number of minutes for this sort of general and accomplishing instruction which every earnest teacher greatly desires to give. In such a j^erplexity, the Primer can be taken up daily for a few moments before the morning recess, with the understanding that the examination of the specimen may be continued through that brief respite if any or all desire to spend it about the microscope. It may be objected that both teacher and pupils are extremely in need of the "temporary suspension of hostilities," and that it is best for both to part company for a few minutes. There is much truth in the objection, and if any better time can be found for the exercise, no teacher ought to spend a recess over botany. If no other arrangement can be made, she will have the consolation of knowing that the heaviest part of the wear and strain of nerve will be borne by herself instead of her charges ; and iv PREFACE. as in this case the matter will narrow to the question -- whether she is willing to "die daily a little" for the furtherance of her work, or to assert her claims of personal ease at its expense, this employment of the odds and ends of school hours must be necessarily left to the individual worker. Other teachers may feel, too, that the Primer strikes ambitiously into profound depths unsuited to small, unreasoning minds, as if one should read Spencer in the nursery. The truth, however, will generally bear telling. -- It is an injustice to the childish intellect to teach it botany superficially, and it is a strange error to encourage it -- by silence about other series of facts, at any rate to consider the complex plants we see about us as the important whole of the vegetable kingdom and to relegate the families of blights, rusts, smuts, and moulds to a limbo of uncertainties and insignificance. The writer begs the teacher who tries this Primer to believe that the system of tests and reviews and the selec- tion of materials are not considered finalities of arrange- ments. The aim of this work is to be suggestive. In most cases the practical studies can be bases of original outlining. The material used has been taken from textbooks designed for older pupils, and has been simplified to bring botany into the reach of primary grades. The writer feels much indebted to Professor Charles E. Bessey, of the University of Nebraska, for matter taken from his " Essentials of Botany," and for his painstaking examination of the manuscript of this Primer. Principal G. N. Cross, of Robinson Seminary, Exeter, N.H., has kindly furnished an appendix, upon the cost and care of microscopes. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE PLANT. A. What the Living Part of a Plant is PAGE 1 B. About Green Protoplasm 3 C. Starch 5 D. The Plant Cell 7 ....... E. Sap 8 Review (Oral and Written) 10 A. A Plant Tissue B. Soft Tissue C. Stony Tissue D. Fibrous Tissue E. Milk Tissue Review CHAPTER n. TISSUES. c . 13 .... 14 16 . 17 18 20 CHAPTER in. TISSUE SYSTEMS. A. Why Every System is made up of Groups . . . .22 B. The Boundary System . .24 Vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. C. More about the Boundary System D. Hairs E. Breathing-Pores CHAPTER IV. The Supportixg System CHAPTER V. THE FUNDAMENTAL SYSTEM. A. Materials B. Spaces between Cells Review (Oral and Written) CHAPTER VI. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS. A. Water in the Plant B. "NA^ater in Protoplasm and in Cell-Walls C. Disturbance of Water in the Plant D. Evaporation E. Movement of Water in the Plant CHAPTER VII. MORE ABOUT THE PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS. A. Plant Food B. How Food circulates in a Plant C. Another Lesson about Starch D. Use of Reserve Material E. Temperature PAGE 27 29 31 33 38 40 44 48 50 53 55 57 62 .65 68 70 73 TABLE OF CONTENTS. VU CHAPTER VIII. A. Light MORE PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS. PAGE 80 B. ^Movements of Plants 82 C. More about the Movements of Plants 86 Questions for Review (Oral and Written) . . , . 90 CHAPTER IX. THE PLANT BODY. A. The Plant Body . 94 B. Stems ..,.,,... C. Leaves ......... D. Roots , . . c . 97 o . 100 o . 103 CHAPTER X. THE LIFE AND THE HOME OF PLANTS. A. How long Plants live B. Where Plants may live 105 .110 APPENDIX 113 CHAPTER I. THE PLANT. A. WHAT THE LIVING PART OF A PLANT IS. [);^^ The teacher should provide herself with plants in pots in- stead of cut flowers. Name a plant ; as, a pink. a Point in the direction of it. Where is it? How large is it? \ Yeast Plant. How would you know it from another plant? -- '^ State somethingo: about, ' *^ a Illy, a rose, a tree, a root. ceii-waii. f0. cell-contents, ^plfa's^m^."" proto- c. clear space in the protoplasm. -- Note to Teacher. Getting acquainted with a plant. Make a thin slice of verbena stem, (a) What is this? Put it under the microscope, (h) What is it now? (c) In what are the drops of pulp lying? The furniture of your sitting-room lies inside the ivalls of the room. Islarids lie in the sea. The soft, clear drops of verbena lie in their thin ivalls. What is the living part of a plant ? I. Soft, transparent drops of protoplasm are the livingr part of a plant. C Stat* C^W*^ JIf. -- 2 A PRIMER OF BOTANY. Tell me where protoplasm is found in, rootlets, branches, foliage, fruit. (Teacher must test this by cuttings from various specimens.) II. Protoplasm is found everywhere in a living plant. In order to live, we must have something to eat, for food builds bones and makes blood. Protoplasm gets food from water. Protoplasm makes room for its food, and stores it up in small, clear drops, like tears. -- Practical Work. Make very thin slices of tender asparagus. Use the J objective. Note the drops of food. Stain some slices with red ink. Use glycerine upon others. The ink stains the protoplasm glycerine withdraws the ; water from it. See the protoplasm wither and collapse. Collapse^ by the way, means falling together in a formless manner. III. Protoplasm can cliang-e its position and its form. It moA es most easily and stores food best when it is warm. Test I. " Cut a bit of verbena stem in such a way as to leave the marginal hairs intact. Examine in water at 86� Fahr. for a motion of protoplasm in the hairs. Transfer the stem to a block of ice, and notice how entirely the move- ment ceases. Warm again." 1. Learn to pronounce, spell, and write the word protoplasm. ''Protoplasm'' means the first thing which is made. THE PLANT. 6 -- 2. Use the word protoplasm correctly to show, the composition of a stem ; a leaf. how plants eat. how they move about. Read these groups of words, and copy every name of -- something made of protoplasm ; 1. Leaves are such common things that we do not think how beautiful they are. 2. Snow is feathery and cold. 3. You have disturbed the level. 4. Flowers are of all shapes. A 5. cistern full of water. 6. The white flower is fragrant. 7. Onions are buds. 8. The pebble is smooth. 9. Close your eyes. 10. The grains from which our bread is made are seeds. Read the list of names of things made of protoplasm. B. ABOUT GREEN PROTOPLASM. Has protoplasm a color ? Protoplasm is colorless, but it can make a color, and dye all or a part of itself. Some parts of the protoplasm in a tiny plant are bright green^ stained so by a green dye made in them. 4 A PRIMER OF BOTANY. Protoplasm does not readily make this dye in the darh^ and even the made dye fades out in long-continued darkness. That is why plants grown in the dark are sickly and wan. Give an example of a plant containing but little green dye. A A. This dye is called cliloropliyll. cliloropliyll grain is a drop of stained protoplasm, and chlorophyll is the staining dye. -- Write a statement about, a bit of blanched celery. a bit of unblanched celery. a ^^ ^^ ^ B. Chlorophyll draws the proto- p^,^,, scum. plasm AVhich it treats into One of the loivest plants having leaf color. lumps or into star-shaped a. ceiiwaii. grains. p. protoplasm, s. space in the protoplasm. .7 C. A/lI c7 oh7ol7 '77 Will , separate protoplasm d. dividing walls. ^' "6^' cells- and chlorophyll. Whe7i moss leaves are soaked in alcohol^ the chlorophyll leaves the cells and stains the liquor. You can turyi the ivhitened drops of protoplas77i hrown hy taking the trouble to add iodine to the alcohol. Bring to school potato stems grown in the dark. Compare them with potato stems grown in the light. ; THE PLANT. STARCH. Make a statement about starch. What word in the statement names a food ? Write that word on the board. Write the name of an article of food containing starch. How do you suppose the starch came in it? Why, do you suppose, a plant stores up cupboards of starch ? IV. Starch is a plant food. It is made in light, and the plant lives upon it in darkness. It can be made in chlorophyll grains only. Test I. -- Tell, in five short statements, one thing that is in a grain of wheat, one thing that is in a kernel of corn, one thing that is in a slice of potato, one thing that is in a grain of oatmeal, something in rice. Write the five statements. -- Caution. Sometimes more starch is made than the plant can use. It is put away in cells for the future thus, in autumn, apple twigs contain starch in cells of the pith. Test II. Examine under the microscope a very thin slice of potato. You will see egg-shaped starch grains. Soak the 6 A PRIMER OF BOTANY. slice in red ink, and the protoplasm which imbeds the -- starch will appear plainly. Write a statement about, (1) leaves that have been in the light many hours. (2) leaves that have grown in the dark. (3) cells of wheat. (4) potatoes. (5) protoplasm. (a) In each statement underline the words which mean plant food. (5) Make a list of plants which store up much starch. (c) Note with the microscope whether potato cells or Indian corn cells (c?) have more starch. Put a drop of iodine upon a slice of potato. The starch grains will Green Mould on Bread (magnified). a. cell-wall. p. protoplasm. turn blue. Write the use of starch; where it is found ; whether protoplasm is its bed ; whether starch is manufactured in colorless protoplasm. Mount threads of pond scum previously exposed to sunlight. Write the names of the substances seen in the cells of the pond scum. Substances are matters whicJi occupy space. Write five statements about the substances. In each statement underline the words which mean plant food. Write a direction for bringing out starch grains vividly. Write the color which they will become. -- -- THE PLANT. See, that every statement is correctly spelled, that you know clearly the word substances. that no mistake about a fact has been made. O;^^ Oral exercise concerning errors. D. THE PLANT CELL. -- 1. Mount the following : a leaf of moss. green slime scraped from a damp wall. a drop of putrid water. 2. How is the protoplasm of the moss leaf found? The protoplasm of a moss leaf is found in little boxes. 3. What is each box called ? Protoplasm boxes are called cells. 4. Tell how protoplasm is found in, green slime, an apple twig, stems of corn. Sometimes single cells or plants float alone ; as, bacteria in the drop of water. More often, the cells or plants are found together, in a great company ; as, green slime. Most often, cell-walls thicken as plants grow old, as in a lily stem. 8 A PRIMER OF BOTANY. A cell full of 2?rofoplasm is a j^lctnt. V. Cell-Avalls are made by protoplasm, much as the snail makes his shell. - The cell-walls press upon each other very much. Test. Describe, by mounted specimens, the cell-walls and con- -- tents of, a lengthwise section of corn stem, the section of apple twig, green slime. -- A Note. few plants have no cell-walls, or very thin and poor ones. Yellowish masses of slime mould are handfuls of naked protoplasm, without houses to live in. Slime moulds are the lowest plants. 1. Name a plant which is a single cell. 2. Name a plant without cell- walls. E. SAP. Apply your handkerchief to a section of freshly cut fleshy stem. Make a statement about the result. What word tells what has moistened the linen? Write that word on the board. Use the word sap instead of the word water. Taste a bit of sugar cane or the sap of sugar maples. -- THE PLANT. 9 How does the water in these plants differ from drinking- w^ater ? VI. The water in a plant is called sap. Exercise. Tellin five short statements, one fact about the sap of the sugar maple. one fact about the sap of a squash plant.* one fact about the sap of a cherry. what you can taste in corn stalks. what you can see if you slice a sunflower stalk. VII. Sap holds all the nn cooked food AAhich the plant drinks from the air and the soil. VIII. Sap is the cupboard where the plant stores its cooked food. -- Mount for examination fresh and wilted stems. Make statements about, (a) the water in the fresh stems. (^) the size of the fresh stems. (t?) the size of the Avilted stems. (c?) the sap in a wilted stem. (e) some stem Avhich you have seen wilt. All parts of a cell are steeped in sap. -- * Note to Teacher. "We misuse the term vine a great deal. Vine, from vinicm. The vine is the wine plant, the grape plant. Usage, it is true, sanctions the use of vine for squashes, peas, morning glories, -- etc., but for all that it is a bad usar/e." Bessey. -- 10 A PKIMER OF BOTANY. -- Examine these parts of plants : (1) a rose leaf, (2) a cell wall, (3) roots, (4) rootlets, (5) stems, (6) branches, (7) seed, (8) buds, (9) an apple, (10) flowers. Copy every word which denotes something saturated with sap. All these things are groups of protoplasm. Protoplasm is saturated with sap, and contains drops of it. Review. OKAI.. 1. Tell (rt) what the living part of a plant is ; (?>) the name of green-stained protoplasm ; ((?) where starch is found; (c?) what starch is; (e) the name of the box which holds protoplasm ; (/) the name of the cell substance; ((7) the name of the water which saturates the cell. -- 2. Name a substance dissolved in cell sap. 3. Read these words, and tell of what each is the name : protoplasm, chlorophyll, plant cell. 4. Give an example of, a thin cell-wall, thickened cell-walls, cell-walls extremely thickened. 5. Name a plant without cell-walls. 6. What effect has warmth on protoplasm ? Give examples. THE PLANT. 11 7. Describe a plant. 8. Explain the growth of a ]:)lant. TVRITTEN. -- 1. Write a word which is the name of, a cell-box, the dye found in some cells. 2. Write the name of the living part of a plant. 3. Write its name when stained green. 4. Write two properties which it possesses. 5. State on the board how a living plant gets food. -- 6. Describe in a written statement the cell sap of, cane, a geranium, a beet. -- 1. Give, OR the names of three plants containing starch, how we know they hold starch. 2. Explain the experiment Avith a slice of potato. 3. Tell,-- why the plant stores starch. when it stores it. when it uses it. when it is impossible for a plant to store starch. 4. Can protoplasm stain itself? 5. What is the dye called? 6. What is the stained protoplasm called ? 7. How is the stained protoplasm found? -- 8. What agent will separate protoplasm and its dye ? 9. Explain a difference between, a potato stem grown in darkness, a stem of the same grown in the liglit. 12 A PPJMER OF BOTANY. 10. State two facts about blanched celery. Find the sajD in a section of geranium. 1. In what parts of the plant cell is sap found ? Cell sap i^enetrates every part of the cell and the cell-ivalls. 2. What does the sap hold dissolved ? The sap holds all the food which protoplasm needs. m is stored drops in the protop)las7ii. -- 3. Give facts about, Sap corn silk, verbena stem, slime moulds, pond scum. a stamen, pollen grains, bacteria, a potato, blanched celery, moss leaves, nut shells, an apple twig, a grape, a dahlia, 4. Prove, by tasting, the presence of sugar in three plants. Write the names upon the board. -- Note. Acids can be detected by applying blue litmus paper to mounted specimens. Acids will turn the paper red. CHAPTER II. TISSUES. A. A PLANT TISSUE. A plant cell may live alone. Plant cells usually live together in groups. (D 00 e^ � a. two cells scarcely touching. 6. two cells pressed together. c. cells placed side by side, and pressure exerted at both ends of the series. d. cells pressed together from all sides. Tell whether the following plant cells live singly or in -- groups : Indian corn, geranium, moss. A group of plant cells is called a plant tissue. How can you tell a tissue ? Find among your specimens two groups of plant cells. Describe a plant tissue. I. In very simple plants the cells are all alike, and such plants have but one kind of tissue. 14 A PKIMER OF BOTANY. IL Higher plants slioAV differences ; and the differences are many in elaborate plants. III. The most important tissnes* are (1) soft tissue; (2) fibrous tissue; (3) stony tissue; (4) milk tissue. SOFT TISSUE. Cells having tliin^ coloi^less ivcdls com'pose soft tissue ; as^ the central part of a stem of Indian corn is made of soft tissue. -- Soft tissue is seen in the c/reenpulp of leaves; thus, the soft part of a leaf is of soft tissue, s^ pulpy sea plants are of soft tissue. -- Name , . � 1 pn � the tissue seen in the lollowing : ^**** Tissue. the centre of a flower stem, spaces between leaf veinlets, interspaces of a squash leaf, the parts of a rose petal, the surface of a cactus bract, fleshy leaves, the flesh of a sepal, pond scum, a moss leaf, yeast plants. Many loiv j^lants are mere bundles of soft tissue. * There is an admixture of less abundant tissues, not touched upon in this book. TISSUES. 15 2. Mount the following, and mention (a) the sort of -- tissue they display; (6) the shape and arrangement of the cells : a drop of yeast, centre of a slice of potato, green slime, a broad moss leaf,* grape mildew, wheat rust, water mould, kelp. IV. Soft tissue is found in the g^reen parts and in the growing" parts of plants. -- 3. Name, spell, and use correctly the tissue found in, the green cells of an apple leaf. the centre of a stem of sweet brier. the centre of a green corn stalk. a cross-section of growing root- let. the pulp of a cherry. 4. What is soft tissue? found ? Where Cup Moss. Soft tissue is the most abundant and impoi'tant tissue in the vegetable hi7igdo7n. 5. Mention five examples of soft tissue. * The moss leaf is usually a single layer of cells. Elongated cells form the midrib. The whole is of soft tissue. 16 A PRIMER OF BOTANY. c. STONY TISSUE. A slice of cocoanut shell is hard as rock. The seed coat of a peach is so hard that it is called a stone. The seed coat of an apple is tough. 1. Read the above sentences ; tell what is said in each of the tissue of the part described ; notice that all these parts are seed coats ; see if you can give the hard tissue a name. 2. Think of two other seed coats that are thick and hard. Tell whether they appear to contain chlorophyll. V. Tissue which is made of cells with greatly thickened walls is called stony tissue. In the jnth of apple twigs the stony tissue co7itains starch. Test. -- Name the tissue of the following examples : (1) walnut shells. (2) a slice of hickory-nut shell. (3) the coat of a melon seed. (4) coats of cucumber and squash seeds. (5) the pith of a twig. (6) a cherry stone. Copy from some book five names which recall stony tissue. Use three of these words in sentences, and describe tlie tissue. TISSUES. 17 -- Supply words in the following : (a) Starch is found in the of , We (6) find stony tissue in and , , and . D. FIBKOUS TISSUE. VI. Fibrous tissue is made of cells that have been pinched and flattened by tissues near by. -- XoTE TO Teacher. Tear off a thin piece of split maple twig, and mount in water. The torn surface will show wood fibres. Write on the board the shape of the fibres. What are the groups of cells called ? VII. Fibrous tissue is found in woody bundles. It gives strength to stems and leaves. Write the composition of fibrous tissue. Write two examples. Write the shape of the fibres of each. -- Note to Teacher. Mount cross-sections of various woods, and point out differences in the amount of fibrous tissue. There are two sorts of fibrous tissue, thick-walled and thin-walled. Thick-walled fibrous tissue is called Bast; thin-walled is called Wood. The fibres of bast are longer and more pliant than those of wood. Both sorts exist in the same twig. When you are making lengthwise sections for mounting, you can see the 18 A PKIMER OF BOTANY. great length of bast fibres by cutting through one of the bundles of this sort of tissue. Bast bundles can be told by their whiteness. Test. -- 1. Make a statement about, (a) a section of oak log. (6) an apple branch, (c?) a maple twig. (d) branches of willow. ^^ (e) the trun1k p oi an el1 m. TTood and Bast Tissues. -- 2. Underline the names of tissues in the following sentences: (a) Fibrous tissue is made of long, thick-Avalled cells. (b') Branches of trees are twisted into different shapes b}^ white, finger-like fibres, (c) Such fibres are bast bundles. They are more flexible than those of wood, (c^) Soft tissue and fibrous tissue make plants, and stony tissue protects plant food. 3. Describe soft tissue, stony tissue, and fibrous tissue. E. MILK TISSUE. Some plants (as lettuce^ milkiveed^ the poppy^ the dandelion) exude fluid resembling milk. Such plants contain milk tissue. TISSUES. 19 1. Mention an example of milk tissue, and locate the plant. Give its time of flowering. 2. Read the following sentences, and mark the mentions -- of milk tissue : We squeeze opium from the tubes of the pcpp3\ This system of tubes is found in stems, leaves, and roots. The peculiar juice of the plant may be white, yellow, red, or turbid. Milk vessels can hold caoutchouc and resin. The colored juice is called Latex. -- 3. Use a word that expresses the color of the juice of, a popp}', a dandelion, the celandine, bloodroot. 4. Speak the right name of the milky juice of plants and mention a plant possessing it. -- Note to Teacher. Examine a drop of latex under the micro- scope by transmitted light. White latex will appear brown. Let the entire class thoroughly examine the specimen, and mark the difference in the effects of transmitted and reflected light. -- 5. Use the word for,