Pollination and Fertilization 169 



the breeze and the feathery stigmas catch the pollen as it passes. 1 

 Willows, Poplars, and Oaks have a very ancient history. Their 

 flowers are not showy. Do you ' find bees visiting them ? 

 Does a bee pass from the Catkins of an Oak to the Acorn*, or is 

 it simply in quest of pollen ? From what flowers is honey 

 made in your district? Bees are partial to blue flowers. Did 

 you ever see a butterfly visit a flower of this colour ? If so it 

 should be noted carefully. Do butterflies have their favourite 

 colours ? Do you know any regular flowers with guiding lines 

 on their petals ? Recall Montinia and Cliffortia. Are they 

 pollinated by the same agency ? 



While irregular flowers suggest insect visitors, insects and 

 birds frequent regular flowers. Garden Canterbury Bells are 

 so blue that we should hardly expect a bee to pass them by. 

 Here the bee poises on the stigmas and from that coign of 

 vantage gathers the pollen, never once touching the symmetri- 

 cal corolla. Sugar birds sip honey on the wing from wild 

 tobacco and Hibiscus flowers, and when they do alight on the 

 latter the style, strengthened by the stamen tube, offers a firm 

 landing place. Some of the Antholyzas have narrow tubular 

 perianths. On these butterflies hang suspended, clasping the 

 tube with their six legs. 



The Sweet Pea, while irregular, fragrant, and attractively 

 varied in colour, is habitually self-fertilized. 



A beautiful red Lily grew in a conservatory beside a white 

 one. Bees seldom find their way into a greenhouse, and so 

 the plants seldom set seed. But the gardener carefully re- 

 moved the pollen from the red Lily and placed it on the stigma 

 of the whke one. In due time seeds were formed. When they 

 were planted and a flower came they were white beautifully 

 marked with red. 



The nuclei convey characters which become associated in 

 the fertilized egg. The combined characters are carried in the 

 nuclei which result from the fertilized egg in all the cells until 

 microspores and megaspores (pollen grains and embryo sacs in 

 seed-bearing plants) are formed. There the characters separate 



1 Wind pollinated flowers are usually imperfect. 



