814 Handbook of Nature-Study 



ten little buttresses or ridges is a groove in which a stamen is growing, as 

 we may see by looking into an opening flower; each anther is "headed" 

 toward the pocket which ends the groove. The filament lengthens and 

 shoves the anther into the pocket, and then keeps on growing until it forms 

 a bow-shaped spring, like a sapling with the top bent to the ground. The 

 opening flower is saucer like, pinkish white, and in form is a five-pointed 

 star. At the bottom of the saucer a ten-pointed star is outlined in crimson; 

 and bowed above this crimson ring are the ten white filaments with their 

 red-brown anthers stuffed cozily into the pockets, one pocket at the center 

 of each lobe, and one half-way between; each pocket is marked with a 



splash of crimson with spotty edges. From the 

 center of the flower projects the stigma, far from and 

 above the pollen-pockets. 



Each laurel flower is thus set with ten spring-traps 

 all awaiting the visit of the unwary moth or bee 

 which, when seeking the nectar at the center of the 

 flower, is sure to touch one or all of these bent fila- 

 ments. As soon as one is touched, up it springs and 

 slings its pollen hard at the intruder. The pollen is 

 ' "la urel not simply a shower of powder, but is in the form of a 



sticky string, as if the grains were strung on cobweb 



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silk. When liberating these springs with a pencil 



point, I have seen the pollen thrown a distance of thirteen inches; thus, if 

 the pollen ammunition does not strike the bee, it may fall upon some open 

 flower in the neighborhood. The anthers spring back after this perform- 

 ance and the filaments curl over each other at the center of the flower below 

 the pink stigma; but after a few hours they straighten out and each empty 

 anther is suspended above its own pocket. The anthers open while in the 

 pocket, each one is slit open at its tip so that it is like the leather pocket of a 

 sling. 



After the corollas fall, the long stigma still projects from the tip of the 

 ripening ovary, and there it stays, until the capsule is ripe and open. The 

 five-pointed calyx remains as an ornamental cup for the fruit. The capsule 

 opens along five valves, and each section is stuffed with little, almost 

 globular seeds. 



The mountain laurel grows in woods and shows a preference for rocky 

 mountain sides or sandy soil. 



Another of the common species is the sheep laurel, which grows in 

 swampy places, especially on hillsides. The flowers of this are smaller and 

 pinker than the mountain laurel, and are set below the leaves on the twig. 

 Another species called the pale, or swamp, laurel, has very small flowers, not 

 more than half an inch in breadth and its leaves have rolled-back edges and 

 are whitish green beneath. This species is found only in cold peat-bogs and 

 swamps. 



LESSON CCVIII 

 THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL 



Leading thought The laurel blossom is set with ten springs, and each 

 spring acts as a sling in throwing pollen upon visiting insects, thus making 

 sure that the visitor will carry pollen to other waiting flowers. 



Method Have the pupils bring to the schoolroom a branch of laurel 

 which shows blossoms in all stages from the bud. Although this lesson is 

 on the mountain laurel, any of the other species will do as well. 



