430 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Nectary—continued. 
sary in regard to the use of sugar to plants. There is 
reason to believe that sugar is one form in which part 
of the food, formed by plants for themselves from that 
taken in by them, is retained for a short time in a state 
that is readily available for use in forming new cell-walls 
in growing organs, or other substances of the same 
general composition. Wherever growth is active, sugar 
is present in the tissues, and gives its characteristic 
results when tested for. Hence, sugar is present, one 
may say, in the tissues of all flowers, whatever the mode 
of their fertilisation; but in some, the sugar is retained 
in the tissues, while in others it is contained in the sur- 
face cells, or oozes out on the surface of certain parts 
called Nectaries, which serve as the attraction to insects. 
Besides floral Nectaries, or those in the flowers, there are 
also in some plants (e.g., in some Ferns and in the common 
Bean) extra floral Nectaries. In the Bean, they are on the 
stipules, and forma great attraction to bees in the search 
for honey. In the Bracken Fern (Pteris aquilina), the 
Nectar flows from small, pale swellings at the bases of the 
secondary petioles. It has been found that emission of 
water vapour into the atmosphere, and emission of Nectar 
on the surface of the Nectary, are so related that what 
favours the one, retards the other. In the flowers, it is 
usually emitted most abundantly in the early morning, 
diminishes till afternoon, and again increases towards 
evening. It is generally found to be more abundant in 
flowers of the same kind, the colder the climate. 
The position of the Nectary (n, B, Fig. 663) now 
demands attention. It lies above the anthers and 
stigmas, and an insect, in seeking sweets, would insert 
the tongue with the body in such a position that its 
hairs would dust off the pollen, or else rub against the 
stigmatic faces. It may be observed, in a Pelargonium 
truss, that recently-opened blossoms have their anthers 
Fic. 667. A, BEE GATHERING NECTAR FROM RASPBERRY BLOS- 
som —A, Anther; S, Stigma; C, Nectary 88 P, Petal; 
D, Drupel. B, SECTION THROUGH RIPE FRUIT, showing Fer- 
onen ies Unfertilised Drupels—A’, Withered Anthers; D, 
pe. 
already shedding their pollen, while the stigmatic faces 
are held firmly in mutual contact, so that fertilisation 
is impossible ; but that older blossoms, from which the 
pollen has all, or nearly all, disappeared, have their 
stigmatic surfaces exposed, since they have separated 
and curled back upon the top of the style, as at s, C, 
Fig. 663— clearly pointing to an effort to secure cross- 
fertilisation. If an insect visits a young flower with 
stigmas not yet receptive, it nevertheless secures 
pollen on its breast, which it transfers to the stigmas of 
older flowers, when seeking their Nectar. > 
_ The enormous importance of insects’ visits has not, 
N. aceroides (Maple-like).* ff. 
Nectary—continued. 
until recently, been realised. See Hybridising To 
mention only a few instances, our orchard and fruit 
crops, and leguminous seeds, forming together no in- 
considerable fraction of human food, very largely 
dependent upon insect agency, and the fee paid for 
professional attendance on the part of the insect inocu- 
lator, is Nectar. Let us take, as an illustration, a 
common Raspberry. The nectar glands have their tiny 
openings (C, Fig. 667) set in a ring just within the very 
numerous anther filaments. The stigmas (S) of the various 
drupels (D) need the pollen to be passed from the 
anthers (A) to the surfaces of the former, but the in- 
terval between the two is considerable. A bee settles, 
and, in applying her tongue consecutively to the cir- 
cularly-disposed sources of supply, makes a revolution. 
The side of the body is thus dusted with pollen; but 
this is not transferred to the stigmas. Flitting to a 
neighbouring blossom, she generally revolves the body 
in the opposite direction, so as to rest the legs pre- 
viously most exercised, and so transfers the pollen before 
gathered to the waiting stigmas, thus securing cross- 
fertilisation. If the stigmas be not in this way pollinated, 
the drupels do not develop, and we get, on part of the 
Raspberry, shrunken greenish-grey abortions, of which 
two are seen in the section. These failures are common 
late in the season, in consequence of imperfect insect 
action. 
NECTRIS AQUATICA. A synonym of Cabomba 
aquatica (which see). 
NEEDLE FURZE. See Genista anglica. 
NEGUNDO (said to be a native Asiatic name). Box 
Elder. ORD. Sapindacee. A small genus (four species) 
of hardy trees, allied to Acer; they are natives of 
temperate North America and Japan. Flowers diccious, 
small, long-stalked, pendulous, unfolding before the leaves; 
the males cymose-fasciculate, the females racemose and 
shortly pedicellate. Leaves opposite, pinnately three to 
five-foliolate ; leaflets petiolulate, induplicate in vernation. 
For culture, see Acer. 
l green, dicecious; males in 
fascicles, on filiform pedicels ; females in racemes ; petals absent. 
Spring. Z. pinnate, with three to five opposite, coarsely and 
deeply toothed leaflets, with the odd one usually three-lobed. 
h. t. North America, 1688. A very ornamental tree. SYN. 
N, fraxinifolium. 
N. a. crispum (curled). A form having its leaves variously cut. 
and curled, but not nearly so vigorous as the type. 
N. a. laciniatum (laciniated). J. more deeply cut than those 
of N. a. crispum. This is also less vigorous than the typical 
species. 
* A (variegated).* A handsome variegated-leaved 
(Cissus-leaved). J. trifoliolate, small, light green. 
N. cissifolium 
h. 5ft. to 10ft. Japan. An elegant small species. SYN. Acer 
cissifolium, 
N. fraxinifolium (Ash-leaved). A synonym of N. aceroides. 
N. nikoense (Niko). J. trifoliolate, shortly stalked, the petioles 
and under surfaces of which, as well as the shoots, the buds, and 
the cells of the large fruits, are very hairy. 
distinct species. 
NEILLIA (named after Patrick Neill, of Edinburgh, 
secretary of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, in the 
early part of this century). Syn. Adenilenia. ORD. 
Rosacew. A genus comprising four or five species of 
hardy branching shrubs, inhabiting Northern India and 
Java, Manchuria, and North America. Flowers white, 
racemose or paniculate, rather. large; calyx persistent; 
tube campanulate or broadly turbinate. Leaves simple, 
variously lobed and toothed. The species here described 
are probably the only ones introduced. They form ex- 
cellent plants for shrubberies; the two last-named, 
however, require a little protection in winter. Almost 
any soil will suit them, and propagktion is effected by 
Japan, 1881. A most 
