THE WELCOME OF THE FLOWEES 



413 



among the few in- 

 sects powerful 

 enough for this 

 work; and, in point 

 of fact, they alone 

 have been observed 

 to pollinate the 

 plant. 



The nectaries of 

 cruciform flowers 

 (Cruciferae) are 

 usually glandular 

 swellings at the base 

 of stamens, the 

 honey when secreted 

 either remaining in 

 drops upon the 

 glands, or accumu- 

 lating in the spaces 

 between the stamens 

 and pistil and in the 

 sepaline pouches. 

 The Cuckoo-flower 

 (Car da/mine praten- 

 sis, fig. 483) of 

 which Gerarde 

 quaintly says, ' it 

 doth bloome in April 

 and Maie, when the 

 cuckoo doth begin 

 to sing her pleasant 

 notes without stam- 

 mering " is a good 

 example. The nectar 

 glands are the green 

 fleshy cushions at the bases of the two shorter and the two aborted stamens, 

 and the honey secreted by these glands accumulates in the pouched bases of 

 the sepals. " In the young bud all the six anthers are turned towards the 

 pistil, which projects above 'them. Before the flower opens the four inner 

 stamens elongate and overtop the stigma, and make a quarter of a revolution 

 outwards, each one towards the small stamen nearest to it ; so that now 

 an insect, in trying to reach the honey of one of the larger glands [those 

 surrounding the bases of the shorter stamens], must rub its head or proboscis 

 against the pollen-bearing surface of one of the taller anthers " (Miiller). 



FIG. 515. Vallisneria spiralis. 

 Female plant on the left ; male plant on the right. 



