FLOWERS POLLINATED BY THE WIND 



staminate catkin of tlie aider I found by actual count 77 flowers 

 and 310 stamens; while a pistillate catkin contained 80 pistils. 

 A tassel of three or four staminate catkins occurs at the end of 

 a branch, while an inch or two higher uj), where the pollen 

 cannot fall upon them, are one or two clusters of pistillate or 

 fruiting catkins. This arrangement facilitates cross-pollina- 

 tion. There are no allurements to attract insects, such as nec- 

 tar, bright color, odor, or resting-places, for the wind is the 

 agent which carries the pollen. On a warm, clear day the 

 last of March or early in April, often before the swamps are 

 wholly free from ice, the anthers open and weigh down the 

 passing breeze with little clouds of pollen. Most of the pollen 

 would be wasted if the bushes were in full foliage. The honey- 

 bees obtain their earliest supply of pollen from the alders, and 

 in northern New England they are fortunate if their work is 

 not interrupted by a snow-storm. The seeds mature during 

 the summer, and the following winter are dropped upon the 

 drifting snow. 



Later in April the willows begin to bloom, the familiar pussy- 

 willow (Salix discolor) leading the way. While no one ever 

 gathers the dark reddish-brown catkins of the alder, the pussy- 

 willows are very attractive and are often sold in New England 

 cities by street flower- venders, and used for decoration in 

 English churches on Palm Sunday. The staminate and pis- 

 tillate catkins are borne on different trees or bushes so that 

 self-pollination is impossible. In a staminate catkin I counted 

 270 flowers, and in a pistillate catkin 14'2 flowers. The blos- 

 soms are sweet-scented, secrete nectar freely, and on a warm 

 day are sought by a great company of honey-bees, bumble- 

 bees, solitary bees, flies, and a few butterflies and beetles, from 

 which it is evident that they are to-day pollinated by insects. 

 But since the flowers are in catkins and "bare are the branches, 



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