plant partnersbips 119 



families, are chosen partners of the flowers ; these are 

 the various tribes of bees, moths, and butterflies, 

 with some help from a few others. 



" Nothing for nothing " seems to be a law in nature. 

 What does the flower offer to the insect for its 

 services as pollen distributor ? Honey, which is the 

 chief food of flying insects, also w^ax, and pollen for 

 its private use at home. The miller, we know^ 

 takes toll from the flour he grinds. 



To secure insect visitants the flower provides in its 

 nectaries honey; almost all flowers secrete some 

 dainty juices. As shopkeepers set up signs to inform 

 the public of their w^ares, so the flowers hang forth 

 signs ; these are the brilliant corollas, or parts highly 

 colored which do the office of corollas. 



The pea, which hides stamens and pistils under a 

 close cap, spreads above them brilliantly painted 

 banners, meaning "honey on draft," and the 

 honey is hidden way back in the stem end of the 

 keel. When the bee lights on the wings of the corolla 

 his weight pulls down the cap and releases the 

 stamens ; then one stamen springs back, leaving room 

 for the bee to seek the honey at the bottom of the 

 stamens, but as he does so he is covered upon his 

 breast with pollen. 



The composite usually detail a ring of wider- 

 petaled florets upon the outer edge of the compound 



