15 



NOTES ON THE POLLINATION OF SOME CALIFOR- 

 NIAN MOUNTAIN FLOWERS. -IV. 



By Alice J. Merritt. 



DoDECATHEON ALPiNUM, Greene. Tliere wave scattered plants 

 in flower in wet meadows all sunamer. The flowers in their provi- 

 sion for pollination resem'ole our common D. Clevelandii, but tl.e 

 clusters have fewer flowers, and the flovrers, while somewhat smaller, 

 are more deeply colored, the petals being rose colored, the filaments 

 purple, and zones between, crimson and yellow. The fragrance is 

 similar. The anthers, as is usual in pendent flowers of this type, 

 are closely conniveut, but Dt a slight disturbance of the anthers the 

 flowers are enveloped in a small cloud of dust, so line and l)uoyant 

 are the pollen grains. The styles, although somewhat variable in 

 the mountain species, usmdl}" exceed the anthers by about two lines. 

 In the older flowers the st^^les turn upward so that some of the 

 pollen falling from the now shrinking anthers must light on the 

 stigmas. The flowers provide no honey, and I h.ave seen hillsides 

 white with D. Clevelandii, yet unvisited for hours; but the scattered 

 mountain flowers are more successful. Bovihii-^ Calljommm and 

 hive bees visit them rather frequently for pollen. They of course 

 strike the stigmas first. 



Gentiana Amakella, L., var. acuta, Engelm., was found in 

 wet meadows. The i^lants do not grow in masses, but individual 

 plants are from one to two feet high and are much branched and 

 many flowered. The flowers vary from pale blue to deep violet. 

 They are about one-half an inch long and have a faint perfume. 

 In their provision for pollination they seem to diflfer somewhat from 

 the type as described by Miiller. Tlie anthers reniain so decidedly 

 extrorse during dehiscence that self-pollination seems impossible, 

 although stigmas and anthers are mature at the same time and the 

 stigmas are sometimes the lower. Usually the stigmas are above 

 the anthers and on entering, guests would eflect cross-pollination. 

 Honey is not jjlentiful and I saw only a hive bee, Bombiis Califor- 

 nicus, and a Melissodes visit them in a casual way. Thrips are 

 abundant and must generally effect close-pollinatio)). 



Erythea, Vol. V, No. 2 [26 February, 1897]. 



