RIDDLES IN FLOWERS 2O$ 



nette, followed by one of that queer couple of the 

 monk's -hood blossom which no one ever sees 

 unless he tears the flower hood to pieces. We all 

 know the nasturtium, but have we thought to ask 

 it why these petals have such a deep crimson or 

 orange colored spot, and why each one is so beau- 

 tifully fringed at the edge of its stalk ? 



These are but a dozen of the millions of sim- 

 ilar challenges, riddles, puzzles, which the com- 

 monest flowers of field and garden present to 

 us ;. and yet we claim to " know " our nasturtium, 

 our pink, our monk's -hood larkspur, our daisy, 

 and violet! 



No ; we must be more than " botanists " before 

 we can hope to understand the flowers, with their 

 endless, infinite variety of form, color, and fra- 

 grance. 



It was not until the flowers were studied in 

 connection with the insects which visit them that 

 the true secret of these puzzling features became 

 suspected. 



We all know, or should know, that the anther 

 in flowers secretes and releases the pollen. For 

 years even the utility of this pollen was a mystery. 

 Not until the year 1682 was its purpose guessed, 

 when Nehemias Grew, an English botanist, dis- 

 covered that unless its grains reached the stigma 

 in the flower no seed would be produced (Dia- 

 gram A). But the people refused to believe 



