REPRODUCTION BY SEED 175 
they act as fly-traps, holding their pollinators captive 
until their duty is accomplished. The most familiar fly- 
trap in England is the cuckoo-pint (Arum maculatum), 
found under shady hedges everywhere. The inflorescence 
is a long spike (spadix) of small unisexual flowers (Fig. 73), 
partially enclosed in a great sheathing bract, the spathe. 
The female flowers are borne lowermost upon the spadix, 
and consist of a large number of 
pistils without any perianth. A 
short distance above these are 
the male flowers—a multitude 
of almost sessile stamens. Then 
comes, at the constriction of the 
spathe, a brush of downward- 
turned hairs, which partially close 
in the chamber below. The 
spadix ends above in a long, 
dark-coloured, club-shaped organ, 
whose dark purple colour and 
disagreeable smell are so attrac- 
tive to flies. Flies, attracted by 
the showy spadix, enter the 
inflorescence, push their way 
through the neck of the spathe, 
and enter the chamber where the 
flowers are. Once in, they cannot 
get out, for the forest of pendent 
hairs bars the exit. But the 
quarters are comfortable, and ae Ge eee 
there is plenty of food. The  riedatum). (eaten) 
pistils ripen first, and are pol- | J othe- b, fleshy axis of 
linated by the flies when they * windiz re Ae rapa 
first enter the chamber. Each striction of spathe; 
stigma, when ripe, secretes a drop S atenla niet Ks Aue 
of honey, and the flies, in their f, fertile pistillate flowers. 
movements to get at it, dust 
any pollen they may have on their bodies upon the 
receptive stigmas. After a while the stamens mature, 
and, bursting, powder the insects with pollen. At the 
same time, the flower begins to fade, the hairs dry up, 
and the spathe droops and falls over, leaving an open 
passage for the insects. They fly out, but, having become 
accustomed to the darkness of the trap, they make for 
