202 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918 



When God cut holes in heaven, 



The holes the stars look through 

 He let the scraps fall down to earth, — 



The little scraps are you." 



And who of us that have seen a patch of these flowers can doubt 

 this origin ? There are five, green sepals extended into ears at the 

 base, the blue petals are of the same number, with one pair above, 

 another pair, one at each side, and a broad, lower petal. This 

 species is called a bearded species which means it has a fringe 

 of hairs on the inside of the petals toward the base. These beards 

 on the spurred, lower petal and the two side petals give the bees 

 a foothold when they turn head downward, as some must, to seek 

 nectar and also forms an arch over the door of a throat leading to 

 the nectary. This downward attitude of the bees enables them 

 to receive pollen which is dusted on their abdomens when they 

 jar the flower at a point nearest their pollen collecting hairs. 

 The fringe is very useful too, in brushing off new pollen from 

 visitors. 



The nectary is situated in the spur which is formed by the 

 lower petal projecting backwards; in order to reach the treasure 

 which is at the rearmost point — the insect must thrust it's tongue 

 through a little door guarded by five anthers and a pistil. The 

 insect thus becomes laden with pollen and carries it from flower 

 to flower. 



Possibly more than one observer has noted how abundant 

 may be the blue blossoms, "they may fairly carpet the earth," 

 but there is no corresponding production of seed. When one 

 comes to think of it there are never very many seeds on the 

 Blue Violet, for it appears that this profusion of blue blossoms 

 is largely for show and not for use, and that when the plant 

 really wants to mature some seeds, it puts forth half buried under 

 the leaves and grass and next to the ground some whitish flowers 

 which never open nor develop petals, but are fertilized in the 

 bud and are exceedingly fruitful. These peculiar, whitish buds 

 are on curved peduncles an inch long. A dissection of one of these 

 buds reveals a miniature flower, furnished with a good stigma 

 and well developed anthers. These are produced throughout 

 the entire summer and are called cleistogamous flowers, meaning 

 fertilized in the bud. Here is no expensive glitter of petals, 

 no unnecessary pollen to be wasted by improvident insects. 



