FRUIT-BLOSSOMS. 



230 



FRUIT-BLOSSOMS. 



point that we can not forbear publishing the 

 whole of it here in i)ennanent form : 



now BF,OSSOMS AKK KKKTII-IZIOl); WIIV SOMK 



FI.OVVKKS AKK MOKK (JAIIDY THAN OTH- 



KUS; KXPKKliMKNTS OK (MIARLES 



DAHWIN. 



M^iny volumes li;i\i' liccn published in scnci-iI 

 diffei-eut iiing'Uiigv.s upon tlie fertiliziitioii of How- 

 ers— the first by Cliristi;ui Coiirud Spring-el, in 1793; 

 yet tlie suljject iittracted but little uttention until 

 tliirty or forty years later, since which time many 

 botanists liave given the subject much attention. 

 Our most eminent botanists now classify flowering- 

 plants in their relation to fertilization into two 

 classes : Ajiemopliilous and Bntomop/it7oMs— literally, 

 wind-lovers and insect-lovers. The flowers fertil- 



tliftii, Mild thus be cari-ied from llouei- to flower. 

 In this class of plants or flowers many ingenious 

 arrangements are provided to secure cross-fertil 

 ization. One sex is found in one blossom, and the 

 other ill auot liei', sometimes on the same jjlant, as 

 in the sijuash and melon families. In othei- species 

 the sexes are found upon separate plants, as the 

 willow-trees. In some plants the pistils appear 

 first, and lieconie fertile before the stamens ripen 

 their pollen. In others the stamens shed their 

 vitalizing dust before the stigma of the pistil is 

 ready to receive it. 



The common red raspberry matures its pistils 

 first, so that, unless tlie bees or otlier insects carrj* 

 the pollen to it from other eai-lier blossoms, the 

 fruit is imperfect. 



CUCUMBER-BLOSSOM WITH A BEE ON IT; CAUGHT IN THE ACT. 



ized by the wind are dull in color, and nearly des- 

 titute of odor or honey. The sexes are f reciuently 

 separated, either on the same or on separate 

 plants. They produce a superabundance of pollen, 

 liglit and dry, easily transported by air or wind. 



Pines, firs, and other conifera, are familiar ex- 

 amples, which somet'mes fill a forest with "show- 

 ers of sulphur" when shedding their pollen. Our 

 nut-bearing- trees are examples among deciduous 

 trees. The grasses and grains are familiar to all. 

 A kernel of corn will grow as well alone as with 

 other plants; but "the ear will not fill " unless it 

 can receive the wind-wafted pollen from neiglil)or- 

 ing: stalks. On the other hand, those plants which 

 seem to have need of bees or other insects to carry 

 their pollen from one flower to another have more 

 showy blossoms, with bright colors, or white, 

 which are showy at dusk, else tliey give out a strong- 

 perfume or nectar, or both. Ttie pollen grains are 

 moist, g-lutinous, hairy, oi- otherwise so con- 

 structed !is to adhere to the insects that visit 



The partridge-l)erry is very interesting. The 

 blossoms upon about half of the plants produce 

 their stamens first; tlie other half, the pistil. In a 

 week or ten days the order is reversed in the same 

 flowers. 



Many flowers that invite insects appear to be 

 capable of self-fertilization, and often are; yet the 

 pollen from a neighboring- plant of the same species 

 seems more potent. Some flowers are constructed 

 with stamens so placed that their pollen can not 

 fall upon the stigma of tlie same flower, and have 

 special adaptation for the transport of pollen by 

 insects from one flower to another. One curious 

 plant produces small inconspicuous flowers early 

 in the season, capable of self-fertilization; later 

 in the season it produces more showy flowers 

 that can become fertil(> only through the agency of 

 insects. 



Many plants remain constantly bai-ren unless 

 they receive the visits of insects. Some of your 

 readers have doubtless observed how the fu.schia 



