We have spent the past hour and a half disecting flowers. While I update this blog, the children are trying to make an old microscope work. Big Sis discovered that some of the unfertilized seeds in the flowers are SO small, that she wanted a microscope to see them better. Then she discovered that pollen can also be viewed under microscope. I may have to find some pics on the internet, as the microscope we have is not a very good one.
Little Brother disecting flowers with St. Francis
Hosta flowers to be disected.
Hosta flower disected. Beautiful curly stamens and pollen producing anthers.
All parts of the flower removed except the pistil and 'egg sack' or seed pod.
The tiny seeds discovered in an just fertilized hosta flower.
A fertilized seed pod from Hosta
The seeds inside the pod.
Pollen on fingers from a lily.
Big Sis in search of MORE flowers to disect!
What we have discovered about flowers today:
Nomenclature (Review for Big Sis and Intro for Little Brother) Sepal, Petal, Stamen, Anther, Pistil, Ovum, Seed, Pollen... and what each part looks like and feels like in different flowers.
Compared parts of flowers in different flowers: Beebalm, Day Lilly, Snapdragon, Coneflower, Hosta Flower, Big Bluestem Grass flower, Clover, Trumpet Vine, and more...
ALL flowers have the same parts, even though they may look very different or have different amounts of those parts. A tiny individual clover flower has tiny stamen and pistil just like a giant Day Lilly. Isnt it amazing how God created each living thing with everything it needs, no matter how small or large, how delicate or hardy!
We observed the difference between unfertilized seeds and maturing fertilized seeds.
We discussed ray and disk flowers, and how the 'ray' or petal is a sterile flower that attracts pollenators, and how the disk is filled with many tiny individual flowers.
We demonstrated how many hosta flowers grow individually on a stalk, but can be clustered together to appear like a beebalm flower, which is composed of many individual flowers clustered together on one head.
More flowers than we realize are they type to have more than one flower composing it!
Snapdragons were neat to Big Sis. They are very similar to clover flowers. Both are in the pea family! Snapdragon petals are like a protective case and close around the parts inside. They also have a hairy patch near the anthers. I wonder why!
Little Brother says he can disect flowers ALL DAY! However he is now in the basement playing with G I Joes.- The pistil in a flower is like a straw, a hollow tube that leads pollen into the 'egg sack' or fruit to be fertilized.
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