BUTTERFLY AND MOTH FLOWERS 



83 



51. Butterfly and Moth Flowers.— While blue seems to be the 

 favorite color with bees there are a very large number of flowers 

 pollinated largely by butterflies that are some shade of red. The 

 pink family {CaryophyUacex) contains a considerable number of 

 butterfly flowers, some of which are almost entirely dependent upon 

 butterflies for pollination since their nectar is hidden so deeply that 



Fig. 33.— Red phlox (P/iZoj paniculala). A butterfly flower. (From The 

 Flower and the Bee, by John H. Lovell; copyright, 1918, by Charles Scribner's 

 Sons. By permission of author and publisher.) 



orange-red lily 



it cannot be reached by other insects. The wild 

 {Lilium phUadelphicum) is another butterfly flower. It grows on 

 dry uplands and produces flowers that are upright and well adapted 

 to pollination by butterflies. Its relative (Lilivm canadense) which 

 grows in low places along streams has yellow flowers which are in- 

 verted. Because of their inverted position they are not easily visited 



