Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson CLVII · Topic 24: Summer and fall garden flowers
157. The nasturtium
Goal: Your child follows the guide-lines into a nasturtium's spur and watches one flower for several days to see the stamens and stigma take turns.
You'll need
- Nature notebook, pencil and colored pencils
- A hand lens (magnifying glass)
- Nasturtium flowers and leaves
- A glass of water
What's in the book
A Teacher's Story about the nasturtium and the lesson: Leading thought, Method and ten questions.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Nasturtiums bloom in gardens and window boxes from summer until frost. Comstock's goal: have your child watch one flower in the garden every day from bud until the petals wither, and list its insect visitors.
The leading thought
The nasturtium has a special arrangement by which it sends its own pollen to other flowers and receives pollen from other flowers by insect messengers.
The spur
Look at the back of the flower. What is there peculiar about the sepals? How many sepals are there?
Comstock asks children to taste the spur's tip to find the nectar. Instead, hold the spur up to the light, or snip the tip and look at the drop with the lens.
Follow the lines
Look the flower in the face. How do the two upper petals differ in shape from the three lower ones?
If an insect visiting a flower should follow these lines, where would it go?
Suppose a little ant were on one of these petals and she tried to pass over to the nectar-tube or spur, would the fringes hinder her?
One flower, day by day
select a nasturtium that is just opening and watch it every day,
When the blossom first opens where are the eight stamens?
Each day, note how many anthers are open and where the stigma is. After the stamens finish, the three-pointed stigma rises into the bee's path.
The shield leaf
Sketch a nasturtium leaf, and explain why it is like a shield. How does the leaf look when under water?
Dip a leaf into the glass of water and pull it out. Water rolls right off.
Nature notebook
Draw the flower from the side to show the spur, and the round shield leaf with its stem attached in the middle. Start a day-by-day chart for your one flower.
Tip
Nasturtiums are grown as salad flowers, but in nature study we look, we don't taste.