116 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



from flower to flower, till all have been satisfied and 

 the little ovules are vivified and started on their 

 way to become bright and attractive red berries in 

 the coming autumn. 



POINSETTIA Euphorbia pulcherrima 



This flower, blooming in greenhouses about 

 Christmas-tide and embellishing with its scarlet 

 leaves many a holiday feast, 

 reveals a fantastic trick with 

 its stamens, rivalling the antics 

 of the clowns in the Christmas 

 pantomime. A glance at the 

 poinsettia will show that the 

 scarlet leaves are not petals, 

 and that the flowers are not 

 huge and showy and solitary, 

 but small, inconspicuous and 

 clustered into an umbel at the 

 centre of the showy rosette of 

 leaves. And another oddity 

 will be observed: namely, that 

 there is at the side of each 

 POINSETTIA flower a huge nectary which 



resembles a little yellow drinking-fountain full of 

 some adhesive nectar. The stamens grow thickly 

 upon the flower, their filaments being exceedingly 



