The Flowering of the Forest Trees 81 



to the chestnuts, which they resemble only in de- 

 pendence upon the ministrations of insects and in 

 the custom of late blooming. 



For the chestnuts, too, blossom much later than 

 most of the forest-trees, hanging out long, pollen- 

 bearing flower-clusters, which are odorous and con- 

 spicuous to lure the flies, upon whose ministrations 

 the life of the species depends. 



The heavy scent of the blossoms is unpleasant 

 to most people, but we are not the individuals 

 concerned in the case. The faint suggestion of 

 putridity is attractive to the many flies which hum 

 around the branches in the warm June sunshine. 

 They dust their bodies with pollen from the 

 creamy spires, and then carry the life-giving dust 

 to the pistillate flower-cluster, which ripens, later, 

 into the chestnut-bur and its contents. 



The prickly bur is developed from a little circle 

 of scales which has surrounded a pair or a trio 

 of pistillate flowers. Each chestnut is a ripened 

 ovary, and the little tail atop is the remains of 

 the style and stigma. 



It is surmised that the chestnut flowers, like 

 those of the ash-trees, once had both stamens and 

 pistils, alike perfect in development, so that each 

 blossom produced both pollen and ovules. What 



