410 ANGIOSPERMAEDICOTYLEDONES 



of them as protogynous-homogamous. I found only homogamous flowers in 

 neighbourhood of Kiel. Each blossom is in the form of a shallow cup, 5-7 mm 

 in diameter; from the middle of this the two projecting styles (about 1 mm. long 

 project and curve outwards. They carry the somewhat thickened smooth stigma; 

 at their tips, and are surrounded at the base by a broad, fleshy, yellowish disk 

 on which numerous drops of nectar spread out to form a thin layer. The eigh 

 stamens are erect; the anthers rise about 1 mm. above the disk, and are at th( 

 same level as the stigmas, which remain receptive throughout anthesis. The anther; 

 dehisce in succession and get covered with pollen all round. As there are nc 

 petals, and the four sepals spread out flat, the 6-12 or more flowers that art 

 usually crowded together into a cyme make up a practically level surface, which i; 

 extended by the uppermost golden-yellow foliage leaves, so that there is a considerable 

 area by which numerous small short-tongued insects are attracted. As these visitors 

 usually touch one or several stamens with one side of their bodies, and the stigmas 

 with the other side, they commonly effect cross-pollination, but owing to the erratic 



way in which they creep about the flowers 

 and inflorescences, self-pollination is also 

 a frequent occurrence. It can only take 

 place automatically when in exceptional 

 cases the flowers are nearly or quite 

 Y^y^y^^^^^ vertical, so that pollen can fall upon the 

 \. )/ stigmas. Kerner says that at a later 



\\ // stage the peduncles curve downwards, so 



that the flowers come to be inclined or 



FlG. 132. Chrysospienium alternifolium, L. j 1 j .1 t - 1 . u.^.,-1,* 



(after E. Wanning). Longitudinal section through Pendulous, and the Stigmas being Drought 



a flower ( X 8). mto tne jj ne f f a jj f tne p n en autogamy 



necessarily follows. 



Lindman found the flowers to be homogamous on the Dovrefjeld, but owing 

 to the distance between anthers and stigmas automatic self-pollination is here 

 scarcely possible. The flowers observed were larger (7 mm. diameter) than those 

 from the neighbourhood of Stockholm. 



Andersson and Hesselman state that the var. telrandrum Lund flowers in 

 Spitzbergen from the end of June till at least the end of August, when ripe fruits 

 were also observed (' Bidrag till Kanned. om Spetsbergens o. Beeren Eil. Karlvaxt- 

 flora,' p. 31). 



Hermann Mailer calls attention to the fact that the pollination of this plant 

 is also occasionally due to snails. He found small snails (young Succinea) on many 

 flowers, sometimes creeping about, sometimes devouring the styles or one or several 

 stamens. He could generally see a number of pollen-grains in the slimy trail left 

 on the flowers by these guests, and in several cases noticed the direct transfer to 

 the stigmas. I can partly confirm these observations, for though I have not actually 

 seen the snails at work, I have often noticed little slimy trails among the flowers, 

 obviously made by them, and have also frequently remarked the results of their 

 activity, in the form of gnawed edges and surfaces of the foliage-leaves and flowers. 

 Besides this, I have observed many ants and minute Muscids licking nectar, but did 

 not collect them and determine their species. 



