THE AMERICAN BOTANIST, 33 



these and at first sight seems to be one of those flowers 

 like the buttercup or rose that is run wide open, offering 

 its favors to an3'' bee, bug or butterfly that rucij chance 

 to pass, and notparticular about the way in which its 

 pollen is transferred. 



This, however, is not really the case. The blossom 

 bears unmistakable indications that, in its tropical home, 

 at least, it has certain good friends among the insects, 

 whose visits it desires and whose services are promptly 

 paid for. The long tube formed by the sepals on the upper 

 side of the stem and containing nectar at the bottom 

 could only be designed for the use of some insect with a 

 proboscis long enough to sound its depths ; and -w^e may 

 be sure that any insect for which these sweets are reserved 

 is of value to the plant in the transferrence of its pollen. 



The flower has also setup guides to this well of nectar, 

 printed so plainly that even the greatest blunderer among 

 its desirable winged visitors ought to be able to read and 

 understand. On the two upper petals are fan-shaped 

 streaks of darker color which point downward to the 

 spur, and the inside of the sepals also have lines trending 

 in the same direction. 



Nor has the flower overlooked the machinery neces- 

 sary to give and receive the pollen, for the eight stamens 

 project forward about in line with the claws of the three 

 lower petals and as they ripen, one after another rises up 

 in front of the entrance ready to dust v;^ith pollen all who 

 enter. After the stamens have shed their pollen, the style 

 and stigmas, which up to this time have lain unnoticed in 

 the depths of the flower, grow forward and take the posi- 

 tion occupied by the stamens in turn. The3^ are thus ad- 

 justed for brushing the pollen-covered insects that come 

 from other flowers and so cross-pollination is effected. 



But there are other smaller insects with a taste for 

 sweets or even for pollen that, lacking the means to reach 

 the depths of the spur, would not visit the flower in the 

 right way and so only waste the pollen. These the flower 

 has apparently tried to fence out by the line of erect 



