GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1921 



only on close inspection, and there are prob- 

 ably more cases of the sort than are now 

 known. In such plants usually no other 

 means of protecting the pollen is present, 

 and this substance at first appears to be 

 wholly unguarded. The pollen of plantains, 

 meadow rue, grape, tulip tree, and many 

 other plants is thus protected, and this is 

 probably the most common method of pro- 

 tection in the wind-pollinated catkin-bearing 

 trees. 



Protection by Special Contrivances. 

 Another way by which both pollen and 

 nectar are protected is found in flowers of 

 the so-called salver-form type with narrow 

 tube and spreading border. The opening to 

 the tube is often smaller than the tube it- 

 self, and the surface of the corolla is not 

 wetted by the drops of rain which roll over 

 the surface of the corolla. Because of sur- 

 face tension these drops can not enter the 

 narrow orifice of the tube without pressure 

 being brought to bear to distort the drop 

 and force it thru the opening. The nectar 

 and honey inside the tube are thus efficient- 

 ly protected from the wet. Among flowers 

 of this sort are the phlox, forget-me-not, 

 primrose, and many pinks. 



Other more 

 - special con- 

 trivances may 

 be noted as in 

 the touch-me- 

 not or jewel- 

 weed and other 

 plants where 

 the flowers are 

 hung under- 

 n e a t h the 

 leaves which 

 shed the rain- 

 drops unwet- 

 ted; in the 

 j a c k-in-t h e- 

 pulpit and 

 skunk cabbage 

 in which the 

 arching spathe 

 incloses a n d 

 roofs over the 

 cluster of 

 flowers; in the 

 iris where the 

 stigmas form 

 a roof over 

 the anthers; and in the sunflower family 

 where the pollen is inclosed at first in the 

 anther tube. The ornamental plant Cobaea 

 and some other plants possess difficultly 

 wetted pollen grains with a honeycomb- 

 like surface, the pits of which contain 

 sufiicient air to retard greatly the wetting 

 of the grain. A more common method of 

 protection is found in the plants with pea- 

 like flowers such as peas, beans, clovers, al- 

 falfa, and the like, and in snapdragons and 

 bleeding-hearts where the stamens are en- 

 tirely inclosed until the moment when the 

 transfer of pollen takes place, 



Tlie dandelion protects its nec- 

 tar at night and during rainy 

 weather bj' closing its flowers. 



Protection from Undesirable Guests. 

 If there is to be economy of pollen and 

 nectar, means must be taken to prevent in- 

 sects which would not normally effect pol- 

 lination from carrying away these sub- 

 stances. The methods employed to accom- 

 plish this are very numerous and interest- 

 ing. Peculiar folds, cushions, walls, grat- 

 ings, brushes, and thickets of hair guard the 

 entrance of the flower and render access dif- 

 ficult to all but the desired guest. Large 

 and powerful insects can brush these ob- 

 stacles aside, but small insects find this im- 

 possible and must climb over or circumvent 

 the obstacles. In many cases this enforced 

 divergence by small insects is sufficient, as 

 they are unconsciously led past the anthers 

 and stigmas. Many plants produce nectar 

 in glands outside the flower; and, altho not 

 entirely proved, it is supposed that this is 

 for the purpose of turning unbidden insects 

 from the flowers. Ants especially are at- 

 tracted to these nectaries and have been 

 seen to fight viciously other insects in the 

 vicinity. This by some has been looked 

 upon as a protection to the plant. The stems 

 of many plants are covered with sticky hairs 

 which render difficult, or prevent entirely, 

 the passage of creeping insects up the stem. 

 In a species of catchfly each internode of 

 the stem is encircled by a band of sticky 

 material, suggesting the sticky band about 

 the tree trunk employed in Massachusetts 

 to prevent the gypsy-moth larvae from 

 climbing into the tree tops. Some people 

 think that the water contained in the leaf 

 bases and entirely surrounding each inter- 

 node in the common teasel, thru its action as 

 a moat, is to prevent small and undesirable 

 insects from climbing the stem. The granu- 

 lar waxy covering or bloom on the pedicels 

 and calyxes of flowers has been looked upon 

 as a protection, since creeping insects find 

 difficulty in walking on such surfaces and 

 may lose their footing and fall to the 

 ground. Stiff spiny hairs about the flowers 

 are apparently an efficient protection 

 against soft-bodied insects and animals such 

 as snails. The contrivances to exclude the 

 winged insects are situated mainly within 

 the flower. These consist of irregular tufts 

 and plugs of wool or latticework or crowns 

 of various sorts. In some blueberries a lat- 

 ticework of barbs from the anthers protect 

 the nectar but not the pollen. In many 

 flowers of the phlox and nightshade families 

 wool at the base of the style protects the 

 nectary. In the tulip the nectary is pro- 

 tected by hair. The opening of many flow- 

 ers with a narrow tube is closed by scales 

 or palisades of hairs. Many flowers have 

 corolla tubes so long that only butterflies 

 and moths can reach the nectar. This is 

 true of many honeysuckles, the jimson weed, 

 and others. Most closed flowers, as the snap- 

 dragon, can be entered only by such insects 

 as are desired. Small insects are not pow- 

 erful enough to push their way iu, or heavy 



