Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson CXVII · Topic 19: Spring wildflowers of the woods
117. The hepatica
Goal: Your child finds hepaticas in the early spring woods, tells their furry buds and old purple leaves from the new ones, and starts watching one plant through the year.
You'll need
- Nature notebook, pencil and colored pencils
- A hand lens (magnifying glass)
- A piece of colored yarn to mark a plant
- Boots for wet woods
What's in the book
This is the first numbered lesson of Part III, Plant Life, under “Wild-Flower Study.” A Teacher's Story describes the hepatica in the melting-snow woods; the lesson gives a Leading thought, a Method and nine questions.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Hepaticas are among the very first flowers of spring, often in March or April while snow still lies on the north side of things. Look in rich, moist woods of trees that drop their leaves, on slopes and under the leaf litter.
Comstock's short essays just before this lesson (on how to begin plant study) say the right way to begin plant study with young children is by awakening their interest. These guides do that by going out to look first.
Before you go, make sure your child can spot poison ivy: three leaflets on each leaf ("leaves of three, let it be"), often climbing as a hairy vine or growing as a low patch.
The leading thought
Read it aloud before you set out:
The hepatica flower buds are developed in the fall, so as to be ready to blossom early in the spring. This plant lives only in moist and shady woods.
SayThese flowers were already made last fall and waited under the snow. Let's see if we can find one.
Find them
Walk slowly and look for a bit of pale blue, pink or white among the brown leaves. Ask Comstock's first questions where you stand:
Where do you find the hepaticas? Do you ever find them in the open fields? Do you ever find them in the pine woods?
Old leaves and new
Kneel by a plant. The leaves that lived through the winter are leathery and purple-brown; new leaves come later, soft and furry.
How do the leaves look in early spring? Sketch in color one of these old leaves.
If you find a plant not yet in bloom, look at its center without digging:
Find a hepatica plant before it begins to blossom. Look, if possible, at its very center. Describe these little flower buds. When were they formed?
Look closely at a flower
Use the hand lens on a flower that is still on its plant. Don't pick it.
Are the hepaticas in your woods all pink, or blue, or white? Do those which are at first pink or blue fade to white later?
How many petals has your hepatica? Can you see that the outer ones are sepals, although they look just like the petals?
What insects do you find visiting the hepaticas?
Point out the three green, furry bracts a little way down the stem, below the flower.
Mark a plant to visit
Comstock's last question turns this into a year-long study:
Describe a hepatica plant in the woods; mark it so that you will know it, and visit it occasionally during the summer and autumn, noting what happens to it.
Tie loose yarn on a nearby twig (not on the plant) and note the spot. Hepaticas die if dug up and moved to sunny places, so leave them where they grow.
Nature notebook
Back home, your child draws one old purple-brown leaf in color and one flower, with the date and place. Add one sentence: what surprised you?
Afterwards
Visit the marked plant every few weeks through summer and fall and add a dated note each time. In the fall, look for the new buds forming at the center.
Tip
Pick no wildflowers in this unit: look, draw and photograph instead. Many spring woodland flowers grow slowly and some are protected. After a walk through woods or tall plants, check everyone for ticks.
Answers to the book's problems
The flower buds were formed the autumn before. The outer three of the colored parts are sepals; the three green bracts below the flower are not part of the flower at all.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.