358 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



ing. There are two to three seeds with a netted testa. 



In height the Cuckoo Pint is 6 to lo in. or rarely 

 a foot or more. The plant flowers in April and 

 May, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



The floral mechanism has already been described. 

 The fertile flowers, male and female, are each sur- 

 mounted by a ring of sterile flowers reduced to hairs. 

 At first the female flowers are ripe, whilst later the 

 stigmas secrete a sweet liquid, and the pollen is shed 

 by the functional anthers. If a plant is examined 

 in an early stage there will be found to be a large 

 number of flies at the bottom of the spathe. They 

 may be covered with pollen from the anthers of 

 another flower. The flies have been attracted by the 

 conspicuous spathe and spadix, the peculiar odour, 

 and have managed to pass the chevaux de frise of 

 sterile male flowers at the top, which point down- 

 wards. There is nothing in the early stage of the 

 female flowers for the flies to live on and they 

 struggle to escape. They cannot get out at this 

 stage, the hairs being still an impediment to their 

 egress. They come in contact with the stigmas, 

 which are sticky, leaving pollen on them, and so 

 cross-poUinating the female flowers. As these develop 

 a sort of honey is secreted, and this the flies Hck up. It 

 is their reward for their unconscious labours. Now 

 the anthers ripen and the flies become dusted with 

 pollen. The hairs wither and the flies are allowed to 

 escape, to find their way into another plant and begin 

 again the useful work of cross-pollination. 



