174 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ions, pumpkins, squashes, cucumbers and 

 gourds are of two kinds on different por- 

 tions of the same plant. The flowers are 

 eacii furnished with a long or rather deep 

 corolla in many cases, and the plants often 

 lie flat on the ground where the leaves 

 cover the flowers from the action of the 

 wind. Bees and other insects are the 

 necessary agents in crossing the flowers, 

 and to them we are indebted as one of the 

 links in the chain which affords all our 

 gourd - like fruits. In nature there are 

 many other examples of plants in which 

 the tw^o kinds of flowers are separate, 

 as in oak, chestnut, beech, hazel, walnut, 

 hickory, and many more. But how is it 

 with most of our tlowers which are perfect, 

 ■(.. e., those having both stamens and pistils? 

 1 should have mentioned that notwithstand- 

 ing the stamens and pistils are near each 

 other on trees of the chestnut, and the pis- 

 tils are evidently abundantly dusted with 

 pollen, yet no fruit sets unless two trees are 

 somewhere near each other, that the pollen 

 of one tree may get upon the pistils of the 

 other. In such cases the flowers of the two 

 trees fertilize each other. The same is said 

 to be true with one stalk of corn in a distant 

 field. I intend to try this more fully the 

 coming season, and in a similar manner 

 test many other plants singly, to see if they 

 will produce seed, and whether the quantity 

 and quality are good. Most of our cultivat- 

 ed strawberries have perfect flowers, and 

 may be self-fertilized, at least to a great ex- 

 tent; but the Hovey, green prolific, and 

 some others, have poor or abortive stamens. 

 That they may be fruitful, it is the practice 

 to mix the plants with the Wilson or some 

 other plants bearing perfect flowers. The 

 bees carry the pollen and take the honey. 



But how is it with the majority of perfect 

 flowers which have good stamens and good 

 pistils in the same flower ? In many of 

 these the pollen is applied to the stigma by 

 insects, and such flowers are rendered more 

 fruitful by these insects than they would 

 be if the flowers were left to themselves. 

 This has been proven by experiment to be 

 the case in many instances, though some 

 flowers are no more likely to seed with the 

 help of insects than without. Very many 

 of our perfect flowers present or ripen the 

 anthers a day or so before the stamens are 

 ready. Such are the lobelias, campanulas- 

 most all the compositiB which includes 

 about one-ninth of all the flowering plants 

 of this part of the country. The last order 

 includes the sunflower, aster, golden-rod, 

 dandelion, etc. Flowers of spilobrium or 

 willow, herb, and clerodendron, thrust the 

 stamens out straight when ripe, while the 

 miniature stigma is curled back and un- 

 opened. On the following day, after the 

 pollen is gone, the stigma straightens out 

 and opens. In the case of clerodendron, 

 the stamens curl back when the style 

 straightens. The stigmas are the brides 

 too late for the marriage of nearest rela- 

 tives, for the pollen or bridegrooms have 

 been carried off by the insect priests, and 

 may be wedded to others not related or not 

 very nearly related. All plants producing 

 the ripe antlicrs before the stigmas are pro- 

 tandrous. Many others are protogenous. 

 They present or ripen the stigmas before 

 the anthers shed pollen. Of such we have 

 the rib-grass or plantago, forget-me-not, 

 scropularia. 



[ Full explanations are useless without il- 



lustrations. The Professor showed many 

 of these by figures on the blackboard and 

 on charts. — Ed.] 



We may almost say that flowers, which 

 are protandrous or protogenous are the 

 rule and not the exception. Honey bees 

 are the most prominent, but not generally 

 the only insects which transfer the pollen. 

 In the primrose of our greenhouses, Hous- 

 tonia and partridge-berry and others, all the 

 styles of the flowers on one plant, and those 

 propagated from this by cuttings are of a 

 certain length. They are Jong on some 

 plants and short on others. On plants with 

 long styles showing the stigma at the throat 

 of the corolla, the stamens ai-e inserted on 

 the corolla below, near, or towards the base 

 of the flower, while flowers with short 

 styles have stamens at the throat of the 

 corolla. Some experiments show that the 

 plants are most productive of good seeds 

 when stigmas of the long styles are fertiliz- 

 ed by anthers occupying a similar position 

 on flowers of other plants. And so of the 

 short stigmas. The above plants are often 

 called dimorphous lytheruvi solicaria, 

 loose strips, and others perhaps are timor- 

 phous, i. e., there are stamens of three dif- 

 ferent lengths, and styles— of three different 

 lengths, long, medium and short. If a 

 flower has a medium style it has long and 

 short stamens; if it has a short style, it has 

 medium and long stamens. What does this 

 mean? Why, that bees (I have seen them 

 at work thus) carry the pollen to the styles 

 of different lengths by different parts of 

 their bodies which have touched the anthers 

 on stamens of a corresponding length which 

 were on other flowers of other plants. 



There is an endless number of special 

 contrivances differing in plan and details in 

 each flower or genus of flowers. Those in- 

 terested are referred to Gray's "How Plants 

 Behave," for details and illustrations of 

 kalmia, milkweeds, orchids, iris, etc. Prof. 

 Riley observed a small moth especially 

 adapted to fertilizing a yucca. She laid an 

 egg and then sipped honey, and so repeated 

 the operation. The plant reared her young 

 insects. She took the honey and trans- 

 ferred the pollen enabling the plant to set 

 seeds. Insect and plant were useless each 

 without the other. This is sometimes true 

 of the striped cucumber-beetle. She eats 

 the young plants, and, later, the pollen and 

 honey, but she helps the plants to seed. 



The flowers of mdrtyriia, trumpet creep- 

 er, rnimulus catalpa, bladderwort, and 

 others have broad flat stigmas which curl 

 apart. When touched by a bee's head in 

 passing in, the stigmas close in a few 

 seconds, and cover the surface which is 

 sensitive to pollen. While taking the 

 honey, the bees are dusted with pollen 

 which is just in the right place to be left on 

 the stigma when entering the next flower. 

 In these flowers, self-fertilization is impos- 

 sible unless in rare and exceptional cases. 

 For particulars see American Journal of 

 Science for Oct., 1876, in article on the sub- 

 ject by the author of this lecture. Flowers 

 of Dutchman's - pipe, some arums, and 

 lady's-slippers, entrap and hold as prisoners 

 different kinds of small insects which enter 

 them. They are not prisons like Libby or 

 Andersonville in miniature, for they treat 

 their prisoners well, with good shelter and 

 an abundance of food and drink of the best 

 that nature affords. The flowers of our 

 common flax are absolutely sterile when 



