[Pg 182] Eatable fruits generally conspicuous.—In order that birds and other animals may easily find the luscious fruits which they may eat as a reward for scattering the seeds, such fruits are almost always displayed very conspicuously, and are brilliantly coloured. Oranges, plums, red currants, apples, etc., illustrate this fact well. Red is perhaps the commonest colour of eatable fruits, because it contrasts so strongly with the green colour of the foliage (Fig. 145). EXERCISES UPON CHAPTER IX. 1. Name and define the different kinds of self-opening fruits. From what common plants could you collect examples of these during an Autumn walk? (N.F.U.) 2. Describe any rough, prickly, or hairy seeds or fruits, explaining the form and nature of the outgrowths and their use. (N.F.U.) 3. What wild fruits and wild flowers would you expect to find in September in your part of the country? In what kinds of places would you look for them? (N.F.U.) 4. Describe and draw the fruit of a field geranium, and point out the uses of some of its peculiarities. (1898) 5. Describe the seed vessels of a pansy. Draw one entire, and also burst open. How does it scatter the seeds? (1898) 6. Shortly describe the fruit of an apple or pear, and of a cherry or plum. Point out the chief differences between them. (1901) 7. How are the seeds of cherry, field geranium, and pine or birch dispersed? (1901) 8. Give examples of seeds which are dispersed by the aid of birds or other animals, explaining in each case how the dispersal is effected. (1893) 9. Why is it an advantage to some fruits to be (a) brightly coloured, (b) sweet? Give examples. 10. A school museum contains, among other things, some dandelion fluff, a dish of marrowfat peas, a few nodules of garlic, and some hawthorn berries. How could you employ these to illustrate a lesson on plant germination? (Certificate 1903) [Pg 183] CHAPTER X. FERNS AND HORSETAILS. 38. FERNS. 1. The male-fern.—(a) Habit of growth.—In summer dig up a plant of the common male-fern (Fig. 146) and wash the soil from the roots. Make out the short, stumpy, creeping stem, covered with the hairy bases of old leaves; the slender matted roots springing from the leaf-bases; the large, compound leaves or fronds of the current year, and the coiled young leaves which have not yet expanded. (b) The stem.—Remove the large leaves, leaf-bases, and roots from the stem, and examine it. Notice how the youngest leaves are grouped round the apex of the stem. Cut across the other end of the stem, and notice the cut ends of the conducting strands embedded in a softer ground-tissue. Cut the stem in halves lengthwise and carefully scrape away the ground-tissue of one half to see how the harder conducting strands are connected together. If you spoil this, try again on the other half, after boiling it until it is softened.