Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 15 



slight enlargement near the mouth of the corolla 

 tube, and almost blocking it; further examination 

 of this flower will disclose a short pistil with a 

 forked stigma in the lower part of the tube. Care- 

 fully look over other clumps and you find some in 

 which the divided stigma will appear at the throat, 

 in place of the Anthers found in the first instance. 

 You will also notice that the corolla tube, in this last 

 instance, contracts a little just above the base; just 

 above this contraction we will find the four anthers. 



The anthers and stigma in each flower mature at 

 the same time, yet the flower cannot fertilize itself; 

 the pollen grains of anthers at the top of the tube, 

 are larger than those in anthers located near the 

 base. The pollen from the high anthers will not 

 quicken the seed of a low pistil, neither will that of 

 a low anther accomplish this result with a high pil- 

 til. 



Thus it is absolutely necessary that the life-giving 

 germs be carried not only from one flower to another, 

 but usually from one clump to another. Bees and 

 small butterflies commonly visit bluets, the bees, 

 with their larger tongues, being the most service- 

 able; as he sips the nectar from the cup, if a high- 

 anthered one, he gets pollen on his tongue near the 

 face; if a low-anthered flower, the pollen is attached 

 near the tip of the tongue. In either case it will be 

 left at the door of the first flower he visits of the op- 

 posite kind. 



Nearly any flower that we may chance to pick 

 will have its story to tell to the sharp-eyed, more 

 interesting than fiction can relate, because they are 

 truths. We may learn how the Mountain Laurel has 

 its pollen on tiny springs waiting to clap it at the 



