252 LUTHER BURBANK 



and how persistently the plant clings to a custom 

 to which its ancestors owed their racial preserva- 

 tion. Moreover, it has been observed that the 

 violet, when transplanted to a sunny spot and 

 made accessible to insects, may resume the 

 custom of growing seeds by its conspicuous 

 flowers, whereas hitherto it had produced them 

 only in the inconspicuous budlike flowers which 

 never open. 



SCHEMES TO INSURE POLLINATION 



It is curious to observe how insistent is the 

 inherent demand for fertilization of the flower, 

 and how even flowers that openly advertise for 

 the insects may strive to provide for self-fertili- 

 zation in the event that their call remains un- 

 answered and in vain. 



The common barberry (Herberts vulgaris) for 

 example, opens and exposes its pollen-bearers 

 only during the bright hours of a cloudless 

 day. But in case an insect fails to visit it, 

 provision is made that will insure self-ferti- 

 lization; for in due course the stamens dart 

 forward and sprinkle their pollen over the 

 pistil. 



In the case of the fennel flower of France, 

 described elsewhere, which does not open at all, 

 the pistils bend forward when they are ripened, 



