Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1909-10-20
A BOTANY EXCURSION.
written by Florence Cook.l


Written by Florence Cook.l
Tuesday morning, October fifth
the mem bers Of our botany class took
lunch and went for trip out in the
woods to observe various plants which
had been studied. and to collect other.
The first plant observed was plan
t tain. This plant is found in great
abundance around our village and in
different places in Northern Wiscon-
sin. The towering part Of the plan
tain, which bears the seeds. is in the
form of a spike.
| The next plant observed was the
| Red Clover. This plant, we were told,
/ belongs to the ieguminosae family. OF
| the same family to which the beans
and peas belong.
The Yarrow, the next plant we no.
ticed, is a tall slender stalk, bearing
feathery leaves and small white flow
ers arranged in clusters The Var
row furnishes an example of both
umbel and corymb.
One Of the members of the class
then brought specimen of plant
l
all learn what 1t was. 1t proved to
be the Pearly Everlasting. In bios
soming season this plant bears small
| white blossoms. In the autumn the
death of the sepals and petals causes
| the flowers to look like small fuzzy
ba Is or masses, or a great deal like
the dandelion in appearance,
| 40 VT t,I1n do nf
Sweet Fern, a species of fern that is
/ tougher and thicker than the ordinary,
delicate, feathefy sprays OF that
plant.
+ The swampy land was covered with
green bushes, or Swamp Laurel,
which in season bears small pink
flowers.
i Here, also, we found the Pitcher
! plant, a peculiar structure in which
IA leaf folds together forming hollow
cavity which will hold, water. Each
plant is supplied with poisonous
water. with hairs pointing downward
! to prevent the escape of insects. This
plant also bears.a large brownisn col
/ ored flower.
! One OF the boys found the dried
pod, or ovary, of the Iris or Blue Flag.
| This was a very interesting specimen
as it showed the attachment of oyules
4 in the ovary.
The Wild Daisy and Rag Weed
were next discovered by the eager ex-
plorers. The daisy was one of many
species of this flower, with small
fringe-like petals.
/ AS it is now autumn we had many
beautiful leaves to observe. The col
ors of these leaves naturally excited
our curiosity as to why they should
turn to differeny colors instead of re-
naming green, as they are in the
spring aud summer. We were then
told the reasons 70: the beautifully
tinted leaf in the autumn. The leaf
possesses a certain coloiing matter
called chlorophyll. The sun acts Oh,
this chlerophyti and it takes food from
the air. The action of the chlorophyll
ceases when frost comes, causing tue
color to change to different lines.
The upper part Of the petio e of a
leaf is composed of "A corky substance.
Late in the season this substance be-
comes brittle and dried, and the sap
is prevented from entering the leaf.
This corky portion of the stem be-
comes SO lfeess that it breaks of
: from the branch. The leaf then falls
from the twig, us its life is completed.
The Ragweed lisa small plant with
irregular leaves and its pollen is one
of the causes of hay fever.
Our next observance was pine trees
the Norway and White pines. The
Norway pines have two needles in a
sheath, while the White pine possess
fine needles to each group or sheath.
: We next found or noticed the Wild
!. Aster. This flower is a small purple
one. in shape something like daisy.
By this time we were near Silver
lake. Seeking desirable place we
had our pictures taken, after which
. we ate lunch.
AS completion of our botanical
work for that day, we discussed the
; subject of emasculation,, after which
we7 returned to the high school in
time for the afternoon session.