146 NATURE TEACHING. 



der to be certain of obtaining any pods at all, 

 has to place pollen upon the stigma of every 

 flower by hand. 



WTND-POLLINATED FLOWERS. 



1. As a general rule the flowers visited 

 by insects are brightly coloured, sweet- 

 scented and secrete honey. Some have all 

 three of these characters ; others only one or 

 two of them. There is a large class of flowers 

 which are not brightly coloured, have no sweet 

 scent, and secrete no honey. The flowers of 

 many grasses, Guinea grass for instance, are 

 good examples. Insects do not visit them 

 much, and their pollen is carried from one 

 flower to another by the wind. 



i >. In these wind-pollinated flowers at- 

 tractions to make insects visit them are absent ; 

 but instead they have other special arrange- 

 ments. They usually produce comparatively 

 large amounts of pollen, which is very 

 dry and powdery and easily blown about by the 

 wind. The stamens often hang out of the 

 flower, so that their pollen is easily shaken 

 out by the breeze. Their stigmas too project 

 in a similar manner and are often large and 

 feathery so that they present a large surface on 

 which to catch the pollen. A comparison 



