LUTHER BURBANK 



even more wonderful arrangement, projects its 

 pistillate flower up to the surface of the water on 

 a long spiral stem grown solely for that purpose; 

 while its staminate flower strains at the short stalk 

 on which it is tethered until it breaks away 

 and rises detached to the surface. The pistillate 

 flower, once pollen has been brought to it by the 

 insects from its floating mate, is drawn again 

 beneath the water by the recoiling stem, never 

 to reappear. 



In the pre-evolutionary days, such instances 

 as these were cited as giving incontrovertible 

 evidence of design in nature. 



But no one nowadays regards them in that 

 light, if we use the word in the old teleological 

 sense. Since Darwin taught us the way, we are 

 able to explain these marvelous adaptations; but 

 as evidences of the operation of the great principle 

 of natural selection they are no less wonderful. 



And most remarkable of all, as viewed from 

 the present standpoint, are the orchids, the 

 extraordinary pollenizing devices of which were 

 first made generally known through the studies 

 of Darwin. A familiar illustration of the methods 

 adopted by this curious tribe is furnished by the 

 species known as Orchis mascula, which bears its 

 pollen in small bundles at the end of a slender 

 stalk, at the other end of which is a disc covered 



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