186 THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS 



Violas are horizontal (Fig. 129, 1), while those of Pansies are 

 directed upwards (Fig. 129, 2). These differences may be 

 somewhat masked in cultivated forms with very large 

 petals. Irregular (zygomorphic) flowers, as those of the 

 Violet, are well adapted to the structure and habits of bees. 

 They not only provide honey protected in tubes or spurs, 

 but are frequently scented, and in the highest forms have 

 a blue colour. 



Sweet Violets grown in poor soil and in a shady place 

 often cease to develop the typical showy flowers, yet ripe 

 capsules full of seeds may be formed. Careful examination 

 will reveal a few very small inconspicuous flowers, resem- 

 bling small flower-buds, at the base of the plant and over- 

 shadowed by the leaves. These 

 flowers never open ; they regu- 

 larly fertilize themselves and 

 produce an abundance of ripe 

 seeds. Sometimes both kinds 

 of flowers occur on the same 



Fig. 129. plant. Similar closed flowers 



1, Flower of Viola. a ttt 



2, Flower of Pansy. occur ln the Wood Sorrel and 



Henbit - Deadnettle (Lamium 



amplcxicaide) . Such flowers are called cleistogamous (Gr. 

 kleistos closed). Cold, absence of sunshine, and a poor 

 soil, favour their development. 



Columbine, Monkshood, and Larkspur. The Columbine 

 (Fig. 130) is a humble-bee flower. Its sepals are coloured ; 

 its five free petals are prolonged into large spurs whose 

 curved and fleshy ends secrete honey. The stamens are 

 indefinite, but the inner ones do not produce pollen. Such 

 barren stamens are called staminodes. In the centre are 

 the five carpels slightly joined at the base. The stigmas 

 ripen later than the stamens. The flower is pendulous, and 

 the bee, in order to obtain the honey, has to cling to the 

 base of the spur and also to the column of stamens and 



