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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9th. 
THE NECTARIES OF FLOWERS. 
° Mr B. LOMAX, F.L.C. 
The somewhat miscellaneous collection of organs which are known 
by the convenient name of nectaries have lately assumed an importance 
which was not recognised by the older botanists. A hundred years 
ago it was an accepted axiom of Natural History that all things were 
created for the especial use of man, and that every organ, or modifi- 
cation of an organ, had a direct relation to his sustenance or comfort. 
When, therefore, it was discovered that certain appendages to crucifer- 
ous flowers had the power of secreting honey, and were on that account 
visited by bees, it was at once assumed that they were of no use to the 
flower, but were added for the express purpose of supplying man with 
a delicate and nutritious article of food. 
Modern research has changed all this. We know now that the 
nectary plays a very important part in the life history of the flower, 
and that the visits of insects are Nature’s means of securing to a large 
section of the Vegetable Kingdom the advantage of cross-fertilization. 
To a large section, but to a section only. Many plants are fertilised 
by the wind alone. The grasses and the catkin-bearing trees have no: 
nectaries. Producing enormous quantities of pollen, in anthers lightly 
suspended and protruded from the flower, the stimulating granules 
are borne in clouds upon the summer breezes, and the pistils with 
their large feathery stigmas catch them as they pass. 
The possession of a nectary is a proof that the flower in which 
it occurs is insect fertilised, but many plants without nectaries also de- 
pend upon the visits of insects. The honey bee, and many other 
Hymenopterous insects use pollen for food, and anyone watching a hive 
in summer may notice the workers carrying in large quantities of this 
material packed in balls upon their hind legs. Many plants depend 
upon the pollen itself to induce insects to visit them, and such flowers 
have pollen of a brilliant colour and in considerable quantity. 
The form of nectary which first attracted the attention of botanists 
was that of the wallflower. In this, as in otber cruciferous plants, 
there are four long stamens arranged in a square, and two stamens 
curled outwards at the base so as to appear shorter. This bulging, 
which is necessarily shared by two of the sepals, is caused by the 
presence of four small green organs which, from their position, were 
supposed to be aborted stamens. It seems, however, more in accordance 
with recent enquiry to look upon them as glands, projecting from a 
glandiferous membrane lining the whole surface of the receptacle. 
Adopting this view, we find perhaps the simplest form of nectary 
in the campanula. Here no special glands are produced, but the whole 
surface produces nectar, which flows into the angle formed by the calyx 
and ovary, and there coilects for the use of the insects, who cannot 
possibly reach it without brushing against the overhanging stamens, 
In the Marvel of Peru, Stephanotis, and Jessamine, this portion of the 
