OBSERVING THECIRCULATION OFWATERFROM ROOTS TO LEAVES
Materials:A stalk of celery with its leavesattached,a glassoftap water,
severaldropsof red ink or vegetable dye.
Follow this procedure: Dissolve eight dropsof red vegetable dye or red
ink in ahalfglassofwater. Place a stalk of celery with its leavesattachedin
thissolution,and let it stand overnight.
In the morning,observe the leaves. Pull out a"string"from the celery
stem, and make a cross section of the stalk.
You will observe:The leaves have red markings; the "strings" of the
celery stem are red, and there are red dots, too, along theouteredgeofthe
cross section of the celery stem.
Here is yourproofthatthe mineral-bearingwaterabsorbedby aplant's
rootstravels up the stem and into the leaves. The tubes throughwhich the
waterpasses are calledducts. As you know, the leaves of aplantneed water
and dissolved minerals as"rawmaterials"in themanufactureoffood for the
plant.STUDYING THE VEIN STRUCTURE OF VARIOUS LEAVES
Materials:A stalk of white celery with its leavesattached,a blade of grass
(or a grass leaf), leaves from commontrees such as oak, birch, chestnutor
maple;red ink or vegetable dye, a glass of tap water and ahandlens, sometimes
called a magnifying glass. (You can buy a hand lens at an artsupply store,
atalargebookshoporstationerystore.)
Follow this procedure: Place the celery stalk in a glass of water in which
you have dissolvedabouteightdropsof red ink or dye. Let it standovernight,
sothatyou can examine the leaves the next day.