412 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



Now, when a bee wants to reach the honey in a flower say, of Viola 

 tricolor it must insert its proboscis close under the capitate stigma, and 

 this, as shown in the sketch, lies in the groove of the inferior petal. Into 

 this groove the anthers shed their pollen, either of themselves or when 

 the pistil is shaken by the bee, and hence the insect's proboscis, in passing 

 down the groove to the spurred nectary, gets plentifully dusted with the 

 yellow meal. As the proboscis is withdrawn, it shuts to the "flap-like door 

 of the stigmatic chamber, so that, for the nonce, no pollen can enter that 

 cavity ; but when the bee thrusts its head into the next flower, it leaves 

 some of the precious dust on the upper surface of the flap. 



In the Alpine Liane (Atragene alpina) the grooved inner surface of the 

 basal half of the stamens forms the nectary. " The pendulous violet 

 flowers," says Hermann Miiller, " only give up their honey to insects 

 which can force asunder the numerous stamens, which are set closely 



in several 

 whorls," and 

 which, we 

 may add, are 

 held together 

 on the out- 

 si d e by a 

 whorl of stiff, 

 erect, spoon- 

 shaped stami- 

 nodes.* Bees 

 and h u m- 

 ble-bees are 



* A stami- 

 node is a barren 

 stamen, more or 

 less filiform in 

 shape, placed 

 either within or 

 without the per- 

 fect stamens, but 

 not furnished, 

 like them, with 

 anthers at the 

 apex. H. Miiller 

 calls the stami- 

 nodes of Atra- 

 gene alpina 

 " petals " ; Ker- 

 ner, " leaves " ; 

 Baillon, "stami- 

 nodes." 



FIG. 514. Odontoglossum alexandrce. 

 (a) A. spray of flowers ; (6) A single flower ; (c) Pseudo-bulbs and leaves. 



