LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



the wild orchid performed its functions even more 

 successfully than the six of its remote ancestors ; 

 likewise with the larkspur's nectaries, in its present 

 arrangement its two combined petals are of greater 

 service in its floral economy than its original five 

 would be. 



The loss of its three petals is a very different 

 matter to the similar loss in the case of the 

 anemone or the clematis, for the petals of these 

 plants were lost by a gradual degeneration. The 

 larkspur, however, has developed two of its 

 nectaries at the expense of the other three ; its 

 flowers have evolved a tendency to lose their 

 circular form and become one-sided (a feature that 

 denotes considerable evolution), and in this form 

 of flower nectaries arranged all round the floral 

 structure would be superfluous. 



In the present arrangement the bee can only 

 thrust its proboscis into the nectaries in a particular 

 manner, and as the stamens mature they each turn 

 up and meet the bee's proboscis as it seeks the 

 honey from the base of the nectaries. After 

 shedding their pollen they again bend down and 

 the solitary stigma takes their place, for the lark- 

 spur is so certain of fertilisation that it often 

 reduces its carpels to a solitary one containing 

 several seeds. 



The methods of fertilisation can be well seen 

 in the case of the garden Larkspurs. A front view 

 of one of the flowers of these is shown in Fig 107, 

 Plate "J"] {Delphinium elatiim), which shows the 

 opening through which the bee inserts its proboscis. 



184 



