20 



GLEANINGS IN BKE CUIjTURE 



January, 191f 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



Bird Flowers often Listed as Honey- 

 plants 



Bird flowers illustrate well the impor- 

 tance of knowing something about the struc- 

 ture of flowers and their pollinators before 

 deciding whether they are good honey-plants 

 or not. The fact that a flower contains an 

 abundance of nectar does not prove that 

 the bees can gather it. Not long ago I found 

 the cardinal flower listed as a good honey- 

 plant, while about two years ago there was 

 published in Gleanings a small picture of the 

 redhot-poker plant, which was reported valu- 

 able by a New Zealand beekeeper. 



Hummingbirds, which are found only in 

 the Western Continent, are the only birds 

 which are of much importance in the pollina- 

 tion of flowers in North and South America. 

 The ruby-throated hummingbird is the only 

 species known in the United States; but in 

 tropical America more than 500 species have 

 been described. While they are most abun- 

 dant in western Brazil, a hummingbird has 

 been seen visiting in a snowstorm the flow- 

 ers of fuchsia in Tierra del Fuego, and north- 

 ward they are reported from Sitka. On the 

 Andes Mountains they live at an altitude of 

 16,000 feet, in a region where there are fre- 

 quent storms of sleet and snow. 



The best-known bird flower in the United 

 States is the cardinal flower (Lobelia ear- 

 dinalis). No more brilliant red or scarlet 



hue occurs among flowers. As a rule, bird 

 flowers are always red — a color supposed to 

 be preferred by hummingbirds. The car- 

 dinal flower is frequently visited by hum- 

 mingbirds, which, with perhaps the exep- 

 tion of a few butterflies, are alone able to 

 reach the nectar from the front. The corolla 

 tube is about an inch long; but in the older 

 flowers the petals tend to split apart and 

 become separate. Bumblebees sometimes 

 steal the nectar thru crevices in the side of 

 the flowers. The three lower petals, as the 

 photograph shows, are bent downward 

 where they will not be in the way of the 

 birds when they j^oise on the wing before 

 the flower. It will also be noticed that the 

 corolla is usually split to the base on the 

 upper side. (Fig. 1.) 



There is another species of lobelia called 

 the blue lobelia, or blue cardinal flower, 

 which has blue flowers and is a bumblebee 

 flower — that is, it is pollinated by bumble- 

 bees. When the two different kinds of lo- 

 belia grow side by side it has been observed 

 that hummingbirds pay no attention to the 

 blue flowers but restrict their visits to the 

 red ones, while the bumblebees pursue the 

 opposite course and visit only the blue blos- 

 soms. 



The redhot-poker plant, or flame flower 

 (Knifphofia aloides) is a native of south 

 Africa, but is everywhere cultivated. Look 

 at the photograph and note the long tubu- 



FiG. 1. — Cardinal fluwer (Lobelia cardinal s) . 

 bird flower. 



Fig. 2. — Redhot-poker plant (Knifphofia aloides). 

 A bird flower. 



