LUTHER BURBANK 



Just as the geranium supplements its advertise- 

 ment in color with an advertisement in scent, so, 

 too, the carrion lily has developed an individual 

 odor-appeal, decidedly like that of meat too long 

 exposed to the sun. 



So obnoxious and so penetrating is the odor 

 of this flower that each year it has been found 

 necessary to cut down the plant shortly after it 

 has bloomed. 



And so truly has it achieved its ideal that even 

 the buzzards, carrion birds that they are, attracted 

 by its color, its texture and its smell, have 

 descended in ever-narrowing circles only to fly 

 away in disgust when they found they had been 

 lured by a flower. 



***** 



Where the geranium finds it satisfactory merely 

 to block the entrance to its honey store with an 

 array of pollen bundles which must be pushed 

 aside by the entering insect, the Chinese carrion 

 lily makes doubly sure of pollenation by means 

 of a still more ingenious device. 



The fly, attracted by the color of the spathe and 

 guided by the hidden odor at the base of the flower, 

 lights on the sturdy spadix and uses it as a ladder 

 for descent. The opening around the spadix is 

 just large enough to afford a comfortable passage 

 way; but once within the well, the spathe closes in 



[82] 



