54 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
streams, where its beautiful much-divided leaves and 
its rich creamy plumes of fragrant flowers form so 
striking a feature of meadow vegetation. Individually 
the tlowers are small, therefore the plant has had to 
follow the example of the Hawthorn in producing 
enormous numbers of them; and here they are 
clustered closely in what are termed 
compound cymes. The flowers are not 
honeyed, but they are very fragrant, 
and they produce pollen on a scale of 
® great extravagance, if we merely keep in 
mind the chief use of pollen. There are 
only about half a dozen carpels in a 
flower, and a couple of anthers would 
supply pollen enough for these; but then 
insects would soon find out the fraudulent 
pretence of perfuming the air yet offering no refresh- 
ment to visitors. So the plant has kept up a large 
number of stamens which produce abundance of pollen, 
and beetles, flies, and pollen-seeking bees are rewarded 
for carrying a little of it from plant to plant. As 
the anthers shed their pollen before the stigmas are 
mature, there is every chance for cross-fertilisation. 
The Dropwort is of more lowly growth, and affects 
dry pastures and downs. Owing to this difference of 
habitat and the liability to suffer in dry 
Dropwort 
seasons, it is not surprising to find that the Cue) 
Dropwort has adopted the precautionary \SkQyZ7Z 
measure of laying up moisture in little 
tubers it has formed on its root-fibres. In 
this plant both anthers and stigmas mature p,o,wort Flower 
together. 
The three native species of Alchemilla have tiny 
