SOME EARLY FLOWERS 



get, that her guests are few. But bees sometimes come ; a 

 bee alights on the platform petal and thrusts in his tongue ; 

 but he seems unable to get honey in this way, so he whirls 

 about and clings, head downward, to the upper petals while 

 he sucks up the honey. In this process he must rattle out 

 much pollen on his tongue. He does not usually strike 

 the stigma as he leaves the flower; but takes the pollen to 

 another flower, and so cross pollinates it. 



The shooting star has the gayest dress of all our early 

 flowers. There are bands of crimson, purple and gold on 

 the delicate rose or lilac petals, which shade into white. 

 Should you not expect such an elegant flower to provide a 

 bountiful feast ? Really, fine -lady shooting star is not in 

 the least hospitable. She serves no honey at all, and a guest 

 that would come for pollen has actually no place to stand, 

 but must hang, back downward, from the gorgeous stamens. 

 Yet she expects guests to carry pollen, for the bit of a 

 stigma is quite beyond the anthers, and at first faces down- 

 ward. She takes good care of her pollen. The puffy, 

 purple filaments are grown together so that the anthers are 

 held closely together and the pollen is kept in until some- 

 thing disturbs the flower. Besides this, the flower hangs 

 downward and the petals form a roof. You may watch for 

 a long time on a hillside covered with shooting stars before 

 you see a guest, but bees do come sometimes. Of course, 

 they strike the stigma first, and then get a fresh supply of 

 pollen on the under side of the body. Think whether this 

 is cross pollination. But the shooting star finds it necessary 

 to look out for herself later on. As the flower gets older, 

 the anthers shrink, and, at the slightest jar, the pollen 

 comes out in little clouds ; strike one and see. At the same 

 time the style turns upward and the stigma at the tip is so 

 placed that the pollen falls on it ; in this way the flower is 

 self pollinated. 



The cluster lily and shooting star keep their flowers in 



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