30 AS CALIFORNIA FLOWERS GROW 



CHAPTER II. 



SOME TUBULAR FLOWERS. 



Some plants do not arrange their floral envelopes 

 simply, as do the Poppy, the Radish, the Willow- 

 Herb, and the Mariposa. They have learned that 

 certain small insects specialize in burglary, creep- 

 ing in between petals, robbing the pantry, and slink- 

 ing out without carrying even one grain of pollen 

 to pay for their meal. The plants are not encourag- 

 ing thieves nor beggars. They are willing to do 

 their part, but they wish the other individual to 

 carry his share of the burden of life. So, many 

 plants have joined their parts into one continuous 

 whole with only the one entrance. Any visitor that 

 comes to them must pass the anthers and the stigma. 



The Gilia has five petals, but it joins their lower 

 parts together into a funnel shape and spreads out 

 their tops into five lobes. It attaches its five stamens 

 to the inside of this tube, and no bug can get down 

 that passage or come out of it without receiving 

 some pollen on its head. Then, as it partakes of the 

 honey in the next flower, this pollen falls on the 

 stigma, and the Gilia is repaid for her ingenuity in 

 building. 



