HOIV TO KNOW THE WILD FLOWERS 



pistil would be ineffectual. Often the stamens and pistils are 

 in different flowers, sometimes on different plants. But these 

 pistils must, if possible, receive the necessary pollen in someway 

 and fulfil their destiny by setting seed. And we have been 

 shown that frequently it is brought to them by insects, occa- 

 sionally by birds, and that sometimes it is blown to them by the 

 winds. 



Ingenious devices are resorted to in order to secure these 

 desirable results. Many flowers make themselves useful to the 

 insect world by secreting somewhere within their dainty cups 

 little glands of honey, or, more properly speaking, nectar, for 

 honey is the result of the bees' work. This nectar is highly 

 prized by the insects, and is in many cases the only object 

 which attracts them to the flowers, although sometimes the pollen, 

 which Darwin believes to have been the only inducement offered 

 formerly, is sought as well. 



But of course this nectar fails to induce visits unless the bee's 

 attention is first attracted to the blossom, and it is tempted to 

 explore the premises ; and we now observe the interesting fact 

 that those flowers which depend upon insect-agency for their 

 pollen, usually advertise their whereabouts by wearing bright 

 colors or by exhaling fragrance. It will also be noticed that 

 a flower sufficiently conspicuous to arrest attention by its ap- 

 pearance alone is rarely fragrant. 



When, attracted by either of these significant characteristics — 

 color or fragrance — the bee alights upon the blossom, it is some- 

 times guided to the very spot where the nectar lies hidden by 

 markings of some vivid color. Thrusting its head into the heart 

 .of the flower for the purpose of extracting the secret treasure, 

 it unconsciously strikes the stamens with sufficient force to cause 

 them to powder its body with pollen. Soon it flies away to 

 another plant of the sajfie kind, where, in repeating the process 

 just described, it unwittingly brushes some of the pollen from 

 the first l^lossom upon the pistil of the second, where it helps to 

 make new seeds. Thus these busy bees which hum so restlessly 

 through the long summer days are working better than they 



xxiv 



