96 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
it has devised a very ingenious way of getting over 
the difficulty thus presented to the perpetuation of 
the species. 
First let us refresh the memory of the reader 
respecting the structure of the flower he—in common 
with civilised man generally—knows so well. The 
short stem or rootstock, with its runners and heart- 
shaped and stipulate leaves, needs no further mention, 
but the flowers we see at once are pentamerous—or 
in whorls of fives—five sepals, five petals, five stamens. 
Yet the flower has not the regular form observable in 
the Roses and Buttercups, where all the petals were of 
one form and size, neither is it so irregular as the 
Monkshood. The sepals are almost equal, but they 
have each a singular flap-like growth backwards 
beyond their attachment to the receptacle, and they 
remain attached to the seed-capsule when this is 
developed. The petals are irregular in size and 
shape, there being two pairs and a larger odd one 
that is developed backwards as a short, slightly 
curved spur. As the flower grows, this odd petal 
is the lowest of the five, though it is really the 
upper petal, but to suit the con- 
venience of bee-friends the plant has 
taken to bending over the upper 
part of the flower-stalk, so that 
this petal should come lowest and 
serve fora platform. This large petal 
is also marked with a number of dark 
hair-streaks which all converge to the 
Sciebann PF Biol ee entrance to the spur. ‘That these are 
of similar purpose to the direction-posts we set up at 
cross-roads, and intended to guide insects to the store 
