Sunday, April 25, 2010

Simple Science/More Nature Exploration


When we were out on our nature hike we found a lot of ferns, well, that is not uncommon for our area, since ferns tend to be the natural plant of growth here. I did however notice something I have never seen before on the ferns. Maybe I have seen it before, but just never paid that close of attention, and you have to realize I come from a part of the State where we didn’t have beautiful ferns growing so freely, the only time we seen ferns were in flower arrangements.

 100_2557After a little research and closer examination I discovered that my hypothesis about these being a seed pod of sorts was wrong. They are actually called Fiddleheads from a Christmas Fern. This is how the fern grows new leaves. Wanting to take a closer look at these, Selena and I picked one and brought it home for further investigation.

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Selena’s first observations were how soft it felt. Her second observation came with quite an exclamation, “Oh, look at all these tiny leaves!” I was still busy looking to see if there might be seeds in the upper part, I still wasn’t buying that there wasn’t more to this peculiar looking stem.

100_2584 But all we found were leaves. The closer to the plant the larger the leaves, the further up the stem and spiraled in the curled end were tiny leaves, some so tiny one would think they were seeds. They came off easily and remained folded up like soft little balls, but if you gently started to open it you indeed found a tiny little leaf.

It just goes to show that when we really take the time to observe everything around you that you can learn something new.

For more Simple Science ideas visit Ticia at Adventures in Mommydum.

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5 comments:

  1. Exploring nature is always fun but disecting it is even more fun. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Once again, Selena has a good eye for science! Great exploration :)

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  3. What wonderful discoveries! I love ferns and remember seeing them all over in California. They're not so plentiful here in the heat of Texas.

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  4. Great observation skills! I would have thought those were seeds too.

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  5. Selena definitely has an eye for noticing details in the nature. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post about your joint discovery. I also love learning something new with Anna.

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