FAMILIAR FLOWERS. 291 



With the tubing of the blossom, Nature shows a tendency to 

 turn it to one side, thus preventing rain and dew from entering the 

 flower-cup and washing the pollen away. Hence, as the petals 

 unite and as the flower-cup deepens, there is a tendency for some 

 of the stamens to atrophy, unless they can be so changed as to 

 become serviceable to the flower in another capacity. This seems 

 to have been the alternative chosen in the case of the fifth stamen 

 of the Pcntste^non, or Beard Tongue. This fifth stamen has evi- 

 dently no present intention of effacing itself. Instead of shrinking, 

 it seems to have grown, for it is the largest and sturdiest stamen of 

 the group. It bears no anther, and, of course, produces no pollen, 

 but it has evidently taken up fresh work equally useful. The two 

 pairs of stamens are curved, so as to bring their anthers close 

 together just under the blossom's arching upper lip, where they 

 can scarcely fail to deposit a load of pollen upon the back of any 

 visiting insect. But the odd one stands quite apart from the rest, 

 and raises its head into the orifice of the corolla, just above the 

 blossom's lower lip. This fifth stamen is clothed, especially at its 

 tip, with fine silky hair, and it stands directly in the pathway to 

 the nectar. 



A thicket of fuzz growing on the corolla and along the pathway 

 to the nectar is a device which has been adopted by several flowers 

 of widely differing species. Among the orchids, Calopogon and 

 Arethtisa are bearded along the upper surface of the lower lip. 

 Chelone and Antirrhinum, both members of the Fig wort family, 

 are bearded in the throat, and in many violets a velvety tuft grows 

 just above the entrance to the spur, in which the honey is found. 

 In every one of these flowers — -as Sir John Lubbock has shown — 

 the fuzz is there to prevent ants and other small pedestrians from 

 crawling down after the honey, which the flower is trying to save 

 for some winged insect friend. Flying insects with long probos- 

 cides make no difficulty of the vegetable fur, but it is a formidable 

 obstacle to crawlers. 



A few long scattered hairs clothe the lower lip of the Pent- 

 siemoji, and act as additional guardians to the flower's stored 

 sweets. But the brunt of the work of defence has been assumed 

 by the bearded fifth stamen. It opposes a formidable obstacle to 

 crawling thieves, and may also serve to bring the back and shoul- 



