THE FLO^YER AND THE BEE 



Fig. 95. Red Poppy. Papaver Rhoeas 



A pollen-flower 



nisms, previously acquired, very useful. In the flowers of the 

 tick-trefoil {Desmodium), which are pollinated by bumblebees, 

 the stamens are held under tension and shed their pollen while 

 enclosed in the keel. When a bumblebee aHghts on the wings, 

 the anthers are released and the elastic filaments project the 

 pollen up in the air, as though there had been a slight explosion. 



198 



