The Cattail is a part of our year long plant study –
we were first introduced to the Cattail in the Spring – April 30th
<<Click to see the Difference>>

The growth of the plants is astounding. We measured Nate today and he is 5’ 8 1/2”.

We found the tips of these very interesting. We wondered if the colors would change, if the harder “hot dog” looking part would grow to the end, would the fuzzy feather part turn into the hard part?  A little investigating at the plants in other stages of development provided our answer.

Here we saw that the flowers were gone.

We remember seeing tips at the end last year.

The root system was quite a bit larger this summer –
with a “baby” growing out the side there.

We had questions about the tops of the Cattails. I came home and read the Handbook of Nature Study of Anna Botsford Comstock – Pages 500-503.  I learned that the top of the cattail is the staminate flower and the “hot dog” part is the pistillate.  The boys and I looked this up – and found that that pistillate is having pistils but no stamens and vice versa. The Pistil is the female part and the Stamen is the male part. We are thankful that we can use the the book and the internet to answer our questions – even though I could have looked at page 456 in the HNS to find the answers. 🙂

I was GIDDY with excitement to read this:

They have no sepals or petals, and are so imbedded in the thick plush that the search is hardly worth while for nature-study, unless a microscope is used. Pg 501, Handbook of Nature Study

Oh the Joy!  We have a Microscope now!  Um. Except. We didn’t know that it came with several dozen pre-loaded slides – so we took quite a side tour of looking at tiny bits of creatures/plants/insects/textiles – and then back to the pistillate and staminate parts:

Left is the Staminate, Left is the Pistillate microscopic view of the Cattail.

Bunny trails that we took this morning – taking photos and talking about the queen anne’s lace – talking about the quality of the water – Seeing the photo of “Avi” our avocado tree from April to present. By the way – for those of you not on my Beach Schooling Site – This study was done on the way home from the beach this morning.  <<Beach Walk Photos with Nate>>

If you would like to be inspired – to take the challenge – to spend time  this year outside – I urge you to visit the Handbook of Nature Site.  Drive by these cattails, sometimes, several times a day. We had them in our front yard for 2 years. I never took the time to look – observe – question – learn. By all means, you do not need to go as crazy as we do with follow through – all three of us just like to spend the day seeking out answers to questions. A simple stop by, smell, look, see, hear, feel – and one photo would have been great for the challenge. 🙂 No Microscopes Needed.

Summer Series  – Outdoor Hour Challenge – Summer Cattail #7

If you would like to be inspired – to take the challenge – to spend time this year outside – I urge you to visit the Handbook of Nature Site.  We drive by these cattails, sometimes, several times a day. We had them in our front yard for 2 years. I never took the time to look – observe – question – learn. By all means, you do not need to go as crazy as we do with follow through – all three of us just like to spend the day seeking out answers to questions. A simple stop by, smell, look, see, hear, feel – and one photo would have been great for the challenge. 🙂 No Microscopes Needed. Visit the Cattail page in the link above to see other families adventures.