THE PLANT AND ITS HELPERS 



951 



STINKING GLADWIN {IRIS FCETIDISSIMA), A WELL-KNOWN BRITISH 

 PLANT WHICH HAS AN UNPLEASANT SMELL ATTRACTIVE 

 TO CERTAIN INSECTS. 



conjecture as to how such things could 

 come about. 



Overshadowing all else in connection 

 with the cross-fertilisation of flowers is 

 the work accomplished by insects. It 

 will be no exaggeration to say that 

 hundreds of thousands of species em- 

 bracing nearly all classes are actively 

 engaged in pollen transference, although 

 it is likely that the insects are in total 

 ignorance of the services which they 

 render. It is evident that it is necessary 

 for the plant to offer some inducement, 

 so that it may appear to be worth the 

 while of the unwitting helper to visit 

 the flower. In most cases this attraction 

 is to be found in the nectar which the 

 blossoms secrete, and this will act as a 



never-failing bait to draw the insects into 

 making a call. The nectaries themselves 

 present a variety of forms, sometimes 

 appearing as sunk glands, on other 

 occasions being grooved, whilst again 

 they may resemble small warts. These 

 processes are, as well, placed in different 

 parts of the flower — in the Japanese Lily 

 they exist as grooves on the perianth, 

 whilst in the Buttercup we may find 

 them at the base of the petals. Even 

 the essential organs themselves are nectary 

 bearers, as is to be seen in the case of the 

 shortened stamens of the Cuckoo Flower, 

 and the ovaries of the Antirrhinum and 

 Veronica. 



The showy flowers of the Grass of 

 Parnassus are of special interest, from the 



