366 THE HIGHER DICOTYLEDONS. 



flowers are made conspicuous by being massed in more or less 

 flat-topped inflorescences. The scented flowers of Elder have 

 no honey, but are visited mainly by flies and beetles for 

 honey; though the anthers open on their outer sides, self- 

 pollination is possible since the anthers and stigmas are ready 

 at the same time. Wayfaring Tree and Guelder Rose also 

 have homogamous flowers, but they produce honey, accessible 

 to flies and beetles. The inflorescence of Gruelder Rose is 

 made conspicuous by the large corollas of the sterile outer 

 flowers. [Diervilla, having a fairly long corolla-tube, is visited 

 by bees and butterflies for the abundant honey.] 



[The flowers of Snowberry are visited chiefly by wasps; 

 the hairs inside the corolla prevent the honey from running 

 out of the drooping flower, and the wasp, being short-tongued, 

 has to thrust its whole head into the flower, touching the 

 stigma and the anthers and carrying away pollen as it with- 

 draws its honey-covered head.] 



The Moschatel, though its flowers are small and incon- 

 spicuous, is pollinated by flies, which are attracted by the 

 musky smell. 



369. Dandelion (Taraxacum dens-leonis) is one of the 

 commonest and most familiar of plants. It is apt to be 

 confused with Hawkweeds and other allied plants of the 

 same family, but is distinguished by the lobing of its leaves, 

 and by its solitary head of flowers being carried on a soft 

 hollow stalk which arises from the centre of the leaf -rosette. 



Examine and compare plants growing in different situations, 

 e.g. in exposed and in sheltered places, among short grass on 

 a lawn, among longer grass in meadows, neglected lawns, or 

 garden borders, in hard or gravelly soil and in soft damp 

 soil. Note that the leaves have a strong tendency to spread 

 out in a rosette and press themselves to the soil (what happens 

 if you carefully dig up a plant growing at the bottom of a wall 

 and put it into level soil?), but that among long grass the 

 leaves grow up in a nearly vertical position. 



Note the peculiar form of the leaves, which vary in the 

 extent of the lobing and the shape of the lobes. Why is the 

 possession of lobed leaves an advantage to a short- stemmed 

 rosette-forming plant ? Note how the lobes of the different 

 leaves fit together with very little overlapping. Note also 



