162 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. 



of leaves in their immediate neighbourhood. We 

 saw an instance of this in the great white spathe 

 or folding leaf which encloses the male and 

 female flowers of the " calla lily." In the 

 greenhouse poinsettia the individual flowers are 

 tiny and unnoticeable ; but they are rich in 

 honey, and round them has been developed a 

 great bunch of brilliant scarlet leaves which 

 renders them among the most decorative 

 objects in nature. A lavender that grows in 

 Southern Europe has dusky brown flowers ; 

 but the bunch is crowned by a number of 

 mauve or lilac leaves, hung out like flags to 

 attract the insects. A scarlet salvia much 

 grown in windows similarly supplements its 

 rather handsome flowers by much handsomer 

 calyxes and bracts which make it a perfect blaze 

 of splendid colour. It doesn't matter to the 

 plant how it produces its effect; all it cares 

 for is that by hook or by crook it should 

 attract its insects and get itself fertilised. 



CHAPTEK XI. 



WHAT PLANTS DO FOB THEIR YOUNG. 



AFTER the flower is fertilised it has to set its 

 seed. And after the seed is set the plant has to 

 sow and disperse it. 



Now, the fruit and seed form the most difficult 

 part of technical botany, and I will not apologise 

 for treating them here a little cavalierly. I will 

 tell you no more about them than it is actually 



