Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson CLXXI · Topic 25: Farm and garden crops
171. The strawberry
Goal: Your child explains the strawberry's two ways of making new plants, seeds and runners, and examines a flower and a berry.
You'll need
- Nature notebook, pencil and colored pencils
- A hand lens (magnifying glass)
- A strawberry plant with runners (garden or garden center)
- A few strawberries from the store or your garden
- A small pot of soil and a hairpin or bent wire
What's in the book
A Teacher's Story with a photograph of strawberries and the lesson: Leading thought, Method and twelve questions.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Strawberries bloom in spring and fruit in early summer; runners grow in summer. Use a garden bed or a potted plant. Eat only strawberries from the store or your own garden: Never taste any part of a wild plant, berry or seed.
The leading thought
The strawberry plant has two methods of perpetuating itself, one by the seeds which are grown on the outside of the strawberry fruits, and one by means of runners which start new plants wherever they find place to take root.
The leaf
How are the leaves of the strawberry plant arranged? Describe the base of the leaf and the way it is attached to the stem. Has each leaflet a pedicel or stem of its own? How many leaflets are there?
Runners
From what part of the plant do the runners spring? When do the runners begin to grow? Does the runner strike root before forming a new plant or does the little plant grow on the runner and draw sustenance from the parent plant?
Pin a runner's little plant onto a pot of soil with a bent wire and check in two weeks for roots.
The flower
Describe the strawberry blossom. How many parts are there to the hull or calyx? Can you see that five of these are set below the other five?
How many petals has it?
The berry
Are the fruits all of the same shape and color? Is the pulp of the same color within as on the surface? Has the fruit an outer coat or skin? What are the specks on its surface?
Cut a berry in half and look with the lens. What we know now: each speck is really a tiny fruit with one seed inside; the red part is the swollen flower base.
Nature notebook
Draw a mother plant with a runner and a baby plant, and a berry cut in half. Then enjoy the rest of the store berries.
Afterwards
Comstock's last question: ~ Describe how you should prepare, plant and care for a strawberry bed. Look it up together and, if you can, plant a few.