THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



69 



the use of another flower. In the mint family many flow- 

 ers have stamens and pistils so arranged that they will 

 brush the insect's back in a similar manner. In these the 

 pistils usually project beyond the stamens so as to sweep 

 off the pollen as the insect enters and before he has been 

 dusted by the stamens in its own flower. 



These are some of the methods by which cross-pollina- 

 tion is effected, but the variations in the way it is accom- 

 plished are almost as numerous as the flowers themselves. 

 Many whole books have been written on the subject and 

 to these the reader is referred for further information unless 

 he prefers the more fascinating proceedure of interrogat- 

 ing the blossoms themselves. 



FLOWERS TURNED TO LEAVES. 



BY WILLARD N. CLUTE. 



LAST summer, owing doubtless to alack of sunlight and 

 a surplus of moisture, a large number of the garden 

 nasturtiums {I'ropxolum) ceased to produce their showy 

 flowers and we concluded that they had finished blooming 



for the season. An examina- 

 tion later,.how^ever, showed 

 that they v^ere still doing 

 their best to blossom, but 

 that the flowers had all re- 

 verted to small green leaves. 

 There Avere great numbers 

 of these transformed flow^- 

 ers, of all degrees of rever- 

 sion, one of the most regular 

 being shown in the accom- 

 panying figure. This still 

 shows a considerable like- 

 ness to the showy blossom. 

 There w^ere five sepals and 

 five petals, the three lower 

 still retaining the fringe of bristles which they have in the 

 normal flower, but all were of a deep rich green like the 



