AN ENCYCLOPZADIA OF HORTICULTURE. 
429 
Nectary—continued. 
Wild-flowers in their Relation to Insects ; Kerner’s 
“Flowers and their Unbidden Guests”; Darwin’s “ Cross 
and Self Fertilisation of Plants,” and various papers by 
Rev. G. Henslow and others in the publications of the 
Linnean Society, in the “ Popular Science Review,” and 
elsewhere. 
In regard to the microscopic structure of the Nectary, 
the nectar-producing tissue is usually made up of small 
thin-walled cells that contain abundant protoplasm, a 
nucleus, and cell-sap, rich in sugar. As a rule, the 
Nectary shows a number of pores or stomata in the sur- 
face layer of cells, and through these the Nectar is 
poured on to the surface of the organ, whence it is 
sucked up by the visitors to the flowers. There is 
usually only a thin cuticle, or it is even absent practi- 
cally in some plants, over Nectaries; and frequently, the 
Nectar soaks out through the thin walls of the cells to 
the surface; but it may be retained inside the surface 
layer, in cells so thin walled as to be easily pierced by 
the proboscis of the insects suited to convey pollen to 
the stigma. 
The Nectary has also been microscopically studied by 
Mr. Cheshire, some of whose results and illustrations 
(engraved from his own drawings on the wood), as 
given in “Bees and Bee-Keeping, Scientific and Prac- 
tical,” are here, by permission, introduced. Taking a 
recently-expanded blossom of the common scarlet Pelar- 
gonium of gardens, which is selected because it is at 
command, in most places, and at every season of the year, 
we find, running down the flower stalk, and immediately 
under the uppermost and broadest sepal, an enlargement 
of the stalk itself, marked off by inconspicuous grooves, 
and terminating in a small bulbous expansion a little 
Fic, 663. PELARGONIUM BLOSSOM AND NECTARY. 
A, Pelargonium Blossom—s, Stigmas; c, Calyx; n, Nectary. B, 
Calyx, with Ovary in cross section—n, Nectary; 0, Ovary. 
Ossol i iew, Corolla removed—s, Stigmas ; a, Anther ; 
3 5 = E. Gross Sections of Ovary, through lines a and 
bof A. F, Stamen—a, Anther. 
below the line b, Fig. 663, and which is often purplish 
in colour. This is the Nectary; and, if we now remove 
the petals, and look at the calyx from the front, we 
shall see into its opening (n, B). Making cross sections 
through the lines a and b, we find the Nectary wider 
above, as at D, and narrow below, as at E. A keen razor, 
dipped in methylated spirit, will take off slices suffi- 
ciently thin for microscopic examination under a cover 
glass in water. Cutting D longitudinally, 80 that the 
Nectary is divided, and then removing a thin slice from 
that which forms the upper part of the figure, and magni- 
fying about 200 diameters, we find the outside to consist of 
cuticular cells, carrying glandular hairs (gh, Fig. 664), 
Nectary—continued. . 
which secrete a resinous body of strong odour. The 
cells on the opposite side of the section are not unlike 
those of the external cuticle, although they constitute the 
1 0 
BATI 
JO 
3 
FIG. 664. VERTICAL SECTION THROUGH D, Fic. 663, showing 
2 (gh) Glandular Hairs. . 
lining of the upper part of the Nectary, for they have here 
no secretory function. Taking a section (see Fig. 665) 
Fic. 665. CROSS SECTION THROUGH E, Fic. 663—gh, Glandular 
Bek S Hakr Oe ne, Nectar Cells. oiii 180 
from the face of E, which lies in the line b (A, Fig. 663), 
we discover the hairs and cuticle to be of pre isely the 
same character as those previously noticed; but the lining 
cells (nc) of this part of the Nectary are totally different, 
extending inwards by almost pointed prominences. The 
structure of the pointed cells is quite special, their con- 
tents, as seen under high magnifying power, being 
granular, especially near the cell-wall, which, at the 
prominence, is excessively thin, and has, lying imme- 
diately within it, a globular mass of highly refractive 
. AR CELLS, Magnified 1000 diameters, showing 
5 (n) Nectariferous Nucleus. 
protoplasm (n, Fig. 666), containing a distinct nucleus. 
This is the active agent in accomplishing the secretive 
act, and the surface of the cells here, in healthy plants, 
and in proper conditions of the atmosphere, will always 
be found to be coated with a layer of Nectar. 
To understand the presence of Nectar in a plant, and 
the uses to which it is put, a short explanation is neces- 
