Beautiful Flowering Shrubs 



unroll, the warm coat of hairs is shed, and the plain, 

 long, elliptical leaves spread in the sunshine. 



The flowers follow later, in June. They are large, 

 bell-shaped, rosy and bright, with a regular five-lobed 

 corolla, the lower part of which is a funnel-like tube 

 set on the end of a long thick seed-case. Five 

 stamens stand on the corolla, their anthers long, thin 

 and attached to the filament in the middle of their 

 length. A thick green column rises through the centre 

 of the blossom from the seed-case, and it is topped 

 with a button-like stigma. There is honey at the base 

 of the petal tube. Middle-sized bees are the visitors 

 catered for, either to collect pollen or to suck honey. 

 Osmia rufa y for instance, is a frequent visitor. As it 

 enters, it first touches the button-like stigma (as this 

 projects beyond the stamens), and dusts it with any 

 pollen that it may bring with it ; then, creeping right 

 into the flower, it gets plentifully daubed with pollen 

 by the five anthers, which have split on their long 

 inner faces, while it is sucking the nectar. Eventually 

 it flies off, pollen-laden, to cross-fertilise some neigh- 

 bouring bloom. Large bees cannot get into the flowers, 

 but pollen-devouring beetles are sometimes visitors, and 

 little wild bees, such as Prosopis, are occasionally 

 found taking their night's rest in the blossom's shelter. 

 Fruit is, however, very rarely produced in this country. 



One curious point is worth notice ; as the flower 



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