428 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
NECTARY. A term that has been used in a some- 
what vague way either (1) to denote any appendage in 
a flower that does not belong to one of the series of 
parts recognised by botanists as forming ordinary 
flowers (e.g., the glands in front of the petals in Par- 
nassia palustris), without reference to their function 
and use to the plant, or (2) to indicate that the part so 
named produces a sweet fluid (see Nectar), which is 
retained in the cells on its surface, or soaks out 
through the walls of the cells or through the stomata 
(see Stoma), which many of the Nectaries possess in 
their surface layer of cells. The word is now almost 
restricted to this latter use, and is employed to denote 
simply the nectariferous character of the part, whatever 
may be its structure, and whatever the nature of the 
part of which it is a modification. 
The relation of the sugary secretions to growth is 
discussed below, and from this relation it must 
evidently be present frequently in growing tissues. 
Flowers present conditions that render rapid growth 
a necessity at certain times, inasmuch as, just before 
opening, the various parts of the flower increase much 
in size, and, after fertilisation, the fruits and seeds 
usually take on rapid growth. Hence, Nectar may be 
expected to be largely present in flowers. The many 
careful observations that have been made of late years 
by botanists in various countries hive shown, among 
other interesting facts connected with the existence 
of Nectar in plants, that sugar is present in con- 
siderable amount in the tissues of many flowers in 
which there is no trace of Nectar on any part of the 
surface; and, also, that Nectaries are frequently pre- 
sent on vegetative organs of plants, e.g., on stipules of 
Beans, on the small glandular swellings on the leaf- 
stalks of species of Prunus, and of the Castor-oil plant, 
and on the secondary leafstalks of various ferns. Since, 
then, there is a tendency to produce sugar in the 
flowers, and since the Nectar containing the sugar 
tends, like other fluids, to soak through the cell-walls, 
and to appear on the outer surface of the part in which 
it exists, we can perceive that insects would probably 
be induced to visit the flowers to collect the Nectar, 
just as bees visit the stipules of Beans for this purpose. 
But, in visiting the flowers, the insects are apt to 
transfer pollen from the anthers of one flower to the 
stigma of the next of the same kind visited by them, 
and they thus aid in securing cross-fertilisation ; a re- 
sult which experiments show to be productive, in many 
plants, of more numerous seeds, and healthier and 
stronger seedlings, than follow self-fertilisation. It is 
thus an advantage to such plants to have frequent 
insect-visitors at their flowers. In many unisexual 
flowers, the seeds could not be fertilised in the absence 
of insects, since they produce pollen unsuited for con- 
veyance by the wind to the stigma of the male flowers. 
Thus, the presence of Nectar is advantageous to both 
flowers and insects; and there seems good reason to 
believe that the habit, in insects, of visiting flowers 
for Nectar, has brought about, in a great degree, the 
vast diversities of structure and form in both flowers 
and flower-frequenting insects. It is necessary for the 
well-being of the plant that the Nectar shall be so 
placed as to insure that any insect able to reach it 
shall transfer pollen from the ripe anthers of one flower 
to the ripe stigma of a flower (usually older) subse- 
quently visited. Hence arise most of the irregularities 
and peculiarities in the form and in the position of the 
various parts of flowers; some to insure the access of 
the suitable insects by the right path, and others to 
prevent the access of visitors that would remove the 
Nectar without effecting pollination in repayment of the 
benefit. 
Tue position of the Nectary or Nectaries in flowers, 
and the organs of which they are modifications, differ 
with the kinds of insects for which they are suited; some 
Nectary—continued. 
lie almost on the surface of the flower, e.g., in Carrot, 
Elder, Ivy, &c.; but most are situated in the deeper 
recesses of the flowers. The position of Nectaries is 
also affected by the fact that exposure to water, in the 
form of rain or dew, injures the Nectar, and renders it 
unsuited for attracting insect visitors. Hence, the 
Nectaries have to be protected against this danger also. 
From the fact that sugar is present in all growing 
structures of flowers, and that it is most abundant in 
the receptacle, in the neighbourhood of the ovary, we 
should expect to find the Nectaries very generally de- 
veloped in this region; and such is very often the case. 
The chief structures that may be modified to form 
Nectaries are the following: The receptacle often pro- 
duces Nectar, either over the whole surface (where not 
occupied by parts of the flower), as in Marsh Marigold 
(Caltha palustris), or on special outgrowths, forming 
what is sometimes called the disk; and this latter may 
form a complete ring between any two successive series 
of parts, e.g., in the Maples; or may be broken into 
portions surrounding the bases of particular organs, e.g., 
in cruciferous plants, round the bases of the short 
stamens. Any of the organs of the flower may be 
modified to form Nectaries in different plants. 
In Poplars, the stigma acts as a Nectary; in Um- 
bellifere, and in many other plants, the Nectary is 
closely adherent to the base of the style; in many 
Solanacee, it is at the base of the carpels. The stamens 
may abort, and may be changed into Nectaries, e.g., in 
Scrophularia, &c., or they may bear nectariferous spurs, 
as in Viola (see below), or outgrowths from the filament, 
or from some point of the connective. On the petals 
and, sepals they often appear, usually as small pits on 
the inner surface, e.g., in Fritillaria, either uncovered, 
or, as in some species of Buttercups, covered with a small 
flat scale, behind which the Nectar is formed. In a good 
many plants, the petals (und less often the sepals) are 
tubular or spurred, as in Columbine, Hellebore, Aconite, 
Ko., and the inner end of the organ is the Nectary; but 
in some (e.g., Violet) the spur merely serves to receive 
the Nectar. In Viola, one of the petals is thus extended 
Fic. 662. ANTHER CELLS AND PROCESS OF VIOLA TRICOLOR. 
A, Process of Anther running into spur of Viola tricolor, 
much magnified—n c, Nectar Cells, somewhat exaggerated. 
B, Anther and Process as removed from flower—a, Anther 
; ne, Nectar Cells. 
backwards, and curious appendages (n c, B, Fig. 662) on 
two anthers pass into the cavity provided, and there 
secrete a sweetish fluid. Perhaps no flower presents 
equal advantages with this to the microscopic tyro who 
would study Nectar cells; for not only are these large 
(n c, A, Fig. 662), but they lie on the outside of the 
process (their protection being derived from the cover- 
ing afforded by the spur-like petal previously mentioned), 
and, consequently, the difficulties of section cutting are, 
in their case, altogether avoided. Much has been written 
upon the nature of Nectaries in the leading European 
languages; but even the enumeration of the principal 
works would exceed our space, and we shall content our- 
selves with naming the following books written in Eng- 
lish or translated from German, which are replete with 
information on the mutual actions of the plants and 
insects: H. Miiller’s “Fertilisation of Flowers by In- 
sects” (Clarendon Press, Oxford); Lubbock’s “ British 
