LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



white colour, contrasted with the black surface 

 of the water, and its large size, are striking ad- 

 vertisements for visitors. 



Where the individual flowers are very small 

 they are usually massed together so as to present 

 a bold show. The Umbellate family offer con- 

 spicuous examples of this. The Wild Angelica 

 (Angelica sylvestris) (Fig. 112, Plate 81) will 

 serve as a type. Here flies, wasps, and other 

 short-tongued insects are catered for ; they roam 

 over the mass of flowers sipping their exposed 

 drops of honey and rubbing amongst the stamens 

 and stigmas as they feed. 



Fig. 113 (Plate 81) is a magnified view ot 

 one of the flowers from the edge of the group, 

 showing how its outside petal is enlarged. This 

 unsymmetrical feature is commonly found in the 

 outer flowers of the groups in this family ; and its 

 purpose is obvious. By extending the petals of 

 the outer flowers the mass is made more con- 

 spicuous. So crowded are the flowers that only 

 the outer ones can successfully develop this one- 

 sidedness. In the corymbs of the familiar garden 

 Candytufts (Iberis) the same feature appears ; the 

 plants, however, belong to entirely different 

 families. 



In the chapter on the Daffodil I called attention 

 to the fact that Nature had, as it were, in con- 

 structing the flowers of the Pink family, worked 

 on a similar principle to that employed in the 

 case of the daffodil. Now this development of 

 enlarged outer flowers, likewise, may be found 



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