RIDDLES IN FLOWERS 2O5 
nette, followed by one of that queer couple of the 
monk's -hood blossom which no one ever sees 
unless he tears the flower hood to pieces. We all 
know the nasturtium, but have we thought to ask 
it why these petals have such a deep crimson or 
orange colored spot, and why each one is so beau- 
tifully fringed at the edge of its stalk ? 
These are but a dozen of the millions of sim- 
ilar challenges, riddles, puzzles, which the com- 
monest flowers of field and garden present to 
us ; and yet we claim to " know " our nasturtium, 
our pink, our monk's -hood larkspur, our daisy, 
and violet ! 
No ; we must be more than " botanists " before 
we can hope to understand the flowers, with their 
endless, infinite variety of form, color, and fra- 
grance. 
It was not until the flowers were studied in 
connection with the insects which visit them that 
the true secret of these puzzling features became 
suspected. 
We all know, or should know, that the anther 
in flowers secretes and releases the pollen. For 
years even the utility of this pollen was a mystery. 
Not until the year 1682 was its purpose guessed, 
when Nehemias Grew, an English botanist, dis- 
covered that unless its grains reached the stigma 
in the flower no seed would be produced (Dia- 
gram A). But the people refused to believe 
