MARRIAGE AMONG THE CLOVERS 99 



precise object. He then flies away to the female 

 flower, in which he alights, as a rule, on the cen- 

 tral sticky portion (called by botanists the stigma) : 

 and as he walks over it in search of the honey at 

 the base of each petal, he turns himself round and 

 round in five directions, and thus unwittingly 

 rubs off the pollen which clings to his legs and 

 hairs, transferring it to the sticky and receptive 

 surface. After 

 visiting and 

 fertilising the 

 female flower in 

 the centre in this 

 manner, he then 

 usually pro- 

 ceeds to visit the 

 second brother 

 beside it, from 

 which he carries 

 away pollen in 



J r NO. 3. MALE BEGONIA FLOWERS IN THE BUD, 



turn to the next WITH N0 SEED . BA G. 



plant he visits. 



The object of this curious arrangement is that 

 each flower may be fertilised by pollen from 

 another blossom, and, as far as possible, in many 

 instances at least, by pollen from a distinct neigh- 

 bouring plant. But you will gather at once from 

 what I have said already that each plant must be 

 regarded in strictness not as an individual, but 

 rather as a community or commonwealth, of which 

 the leaves and flowers are the separate members 

 told off to perform different duties. You may 



