182 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[^June, 



tlichofjninoiis plftnt liiis no ailvantngc in the 

 struggle for life. Tliis fact inuy, however, be il- 

 lustrated in various ways. Supposing the Iris 

 could not self-fertilize, its next of kin Sisyrin- 

 chiuni is certrtinly a .self-fertilizer, and who will 

 say that it lias not made its way proudly ! Iris 

 Virginica is comparatively local ; but any stu- 

 dent ean get a specimen of Sisyrinchium Ber- 

 mudianum on a few hours notice. You can lind 

 flowers which seem to forbid self-fertilization, it 

 is true ; but let us not close our eyes to those so 

 constructed as to render insect aid impossible. 

 There are some scrophulariaceous plants which 

 have the pistil arranged above the stamens, so 

 as to seem placed there in order that a visiting 

 insect may rub its pollen covered back against 

 the pistil on entering ; but many Pent.stemons 

 (P. grandifiorus, P. cobcea), incline the pistil 

 downwards, impossible for any such insect-fer- 

 tilization, yet every flower perfects seeds. Bro- 

 wallia (B. elata) has a hairy cap over the sta- 

 mens, and an insect would only aid in self-fer- 

 tilization. But when Browallia is not visited by 

 insects it }'et seeds abundantly ; and, it might 

 be argued, because it has no fragrance. But 

 there are some Garden Verbenas which have 

 fragrance as well as color. No insect visits them 

 on my grounds, as far as I can find, but both 

 kinds seed equally well. 



In fact, this idea that color and fragrance are 

 necessary to attract insects, and are given to 

 plants for that purpose, does not accord with the 

 fact that flowers with neither, are thronged with 

 insect patrons. But I have taken especial pains 

 to note Rubus occidentalis, our native Black 

 Cap Riuspberry. It has not the faintest trace of 

 odor. Its small, greenish white petals are so in- 

 conspicuous that it might as well be apetalous. 

 But nothing can exceed the fondness of the 

 honey bee for it. They abound in my vicinity ; 

 and from sun-rise till far into the twilight of 

 evening, the honey bee crowds on them. They 

 neglect every flower, even white clover, for them 

 as long as they last. Surely, there should be a 

 necessity for insect-fertilization in cases where 

 insects are so assiduous ! I have had this point 

 suggested to me. Will it not surprise you, my 

 fi-iends, when I tell you that a gauze bag thrown 

 over a cluster of flowers, yet resulted in a perfect 

 fruit to every blossom, as also had all the ne- 

 glected clover flowers as well. 



As to clover flowers, I will refer you to what I 

 eaid of it last year. Since then, so great is the 

 faith in the necessity for insect-fertilization that 



humble bees have been sent from England to 

 New Zealand, to help the clover along. Since 

 last season, I have discovered that our humble 

 bees do not enter the mouth of the Red Clover, 

 care nothing for the elaborate arrangements for 

 cross-fertilization, but slit the tube and get at the 

 honey from the outside ! And yet the clover 

 sccils abundantly. So far as I could see, every 

 llower in the held where I .saw the bees behaving 

 so outrageously, l)ore its seed. Many flowers are 

 served in this way, and unless one looks closely 

 he may be deceived. In the Persian Lilac, if 

 we follow the course of our friends of the insect- 

 fcrtilizatioii school, we see the stamens arranged 

 above the pistil, and as the pollen bursts simul- 

 taneously with the opening of the corolla, it 

 ought to fall on the pistil, and the entrance of 

 an insect would only aid this self-fertilization. 

 But, with us, it never yields a solitary seed, and 

 we may be asked to " behold the results of self- 

 pollenization ! " But we see exactly the same ar- 

 rangement in the common Lilac; and thatseeds 

 abundantly. In both cases the humble bee slita 

 the tube, and the honey bee follows in the slita 

 made by its stronger friends, or else makes slita 

 for itself — a point I was unable, positively, to 

 determine. Indeed one of the points I wish to 

 insist on most strongly is, that the facts in the 

 question have been but imperfectly observed, 

 and then erroneously construed, and of this I 

 will otfer but one more illustration. It relates to 

 dimorphous flowers, those with the pistils long 

 in some flowers, and short in others, as in Epi- 

 giea, Mitchella, Houstonia and others. When 

 we look at the allies of these plants, we notice 

 that this behaviour is exceptional. It may be 

 assumed that they have wandered from a condi- 

 tion, when the separate sexual organs were 

 nearer to a perfectly hermaphrodite condition, 

 and it is a.ssumed that this wandering is in order 

 to derive some benefit from cros.s-fertilization, 

 through insect agency. I have endeavoured to 

 test this assumption in Houstonia ccerulea. I 

 selected a number of plants of both forms, and 

 marked them when in flower. In some clusters 

 aggregating about lifty flowers of the short styled 

 plants, and which, I have no doubt, were self- 

 fertilized, forty-two perfected seed. Of fifty with 

 long styles, and which would necessarily have 

 more difficulty of availing themselves of own 

 pollen, only five matured seed. Thus we «ee that 

 the self-fertilizer has at least the advantage of 

 numbers, and in a battle for life, or for any pur- 

 pose, that is surely an advantage of no mean im 



