INTELLIGENCE OF THE CELL 247 



there is one point which needs especial emphasis a point 

 which must necessarily be reiterated time and again in 

 the consideration of the human side of plants. It is the 

 existence of some guiding force, too impulsive to be me- 

 chanical, too versatile and efficient to be instinctive, which 

 controls the actions and manners of plants in all the 

 stages of their reproductive functions. There is an al- 

 most human sagacity in these actions ; in the display of 

 brilliant colors and soft perfumes to attract their lovers ; 

 in the cunning which they show in imprisoning a bee if he 

 should arrive before the pollen grains are ready to be 

 sifted on his back, and of holding him, sometimes days at 

 a time, until he can go forth laden with the pollen that is 

 to adhere to a pistil and so find its way to the ovary and 

 perform the great miracle that results in seeds ; in the 

 many similar tricks which they use to entice and to hold ; 

 all working together towards that one great aim of plant 

 life-reproduction. 



"Perhaps one of the strangest and most interesting 

 methods of securing cross-fertilization is that used by 

 certain water plants which have their flower-stalks en- 

 tirely hidden under the water. The Italian eel-grass 

 (Vallisneria Spiralis) uses this unique method of fertili- 

 zation. The female flowers grow on long, spirally twisted 

 stalks, and each flower is enclosed in a small bladder. 

 The male flowers grow in bunches, and each entire bunch 

 is covered with a thin skin-like sheath. The female 

 flower has continued to reach up her head until the flow- 

 ers rest on the surface of the water, while the male is 

 tied down below by a short stalk. 



"Now the miracle happens! The gallant wooer delib- 

 erately breaks loose from his underwater position and 

 arises to the top, where his lady-love is peacefully float- 

 ing! The male flower bursts open his sepals and forms a 



