

THE FLOWER AND THE BEE 



States hundreds of tons of honey are stored from it annually. 

 (Fig. 23.) 



Many of the flowers of the pea family, in fading, undergo 

 a change in position and color. In the white clover the white 

 central flowers contrast with an older outer ring of rose-colored 

 blossoms. (Figs. 24 and 25.) In the yellow clover the newer 

 flowers contrast with a ring of chestnut-brown. In the wild 

 vetch (Vicia Cracca) the older flowers bend downward and turn 

 from violet-blue to dark purple (Fig. 26), while the purple 

 flowers of Desmodium become green in withering. In this way 

 the bees are able to distinguish the older, nectarless flowers 

 which have been pollinated from those which have just opened. 



In the mint family (Labiatce) and figwort family (Scrophu- 

 lariacecp) the flowers stand horizontal and are more or less two- 

 lipped. According to the way in which the lips have developed 

 the larger flowers exhibit strange, fantastic forms which mimic 

 the heads of reptiles or other animals, or of inanimate objects. 

 Such are the turtlehead, snapdragon, monkey-flower (Fig. 27), 

 toadflax, foxglove, skullcap, and Calceolaria, or shoe-flower. 

 (Fig. 28.) A great many species are pollinated by bees, as the 

 hedge-nettle {Stachys), dead-nettle (Lamium), hemp-nettle 

 (Galeopsis), the sages, cow- wheat (Melampyrum), and the loose- 

 wort (Pedieularis). (Figs. 29 and 30.) A goodly number are 

 bumblebee-flowers, some exotic species are bird-flowers, the 

 figworts (Scrophularia) are wasp-flowers, while others with 

 small, inconspicuously-lipped corollas are fly-flowers, as the 

 speedwells and mints. 



It will be remembered that in the pea family by means of 

 various devices the pollen was placed on the under-side of the 

 bee's body; but in the mints and figworts it is usually deposited 

 on the back of the insect. In the turtle-head (Chelone glabra) 

 the four heart-shaped anthers lie well forward in the angle 



56 



