248 Flowers and their Pedigrees. 



are much more guided in their search for food by 

 scent than by sight. These Httle flies carry its pollen 

 from one head to another, and so unconsciously 

 fertilise the future seeds, and give the plant a firm 

 foothold in all situations which are naturally suitable 

 for its peculiar mode of growth. 



The common marsh calla of northern Europe 



(fig- 53) bridges over the gap between this English 



plant and the stages below it 



on the path of degradation. 



Calla has by disuse quite lost 



its petals, but it nevertheless re- 



FiG. 53.-Singie flower of tains six stamcns to each flower, 



Marsh Calla. grouped round a single ovary. 



Here the close relationship to the true lilies still remains 



quite apparent. 



Next in descending order, on the way to the 

 cuckoo-pint, we may take that common white lily 

 which grows so often in cottage windows, and which 

 boasts more names, Latin and English, than almost 

 any other plant whose personal acquaintance I have 

 ever had the pleasure of making. The members 

 of a Sheffield long firm themselves have seldom so 

 many aliases as this honest and unoffending flower. 

 Botanists call it Richardia Africana ; gardeners dub 

 it Calla ^thiopica ; and the general public knows it 



