70 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



BOUNCING BET OR 

 SOAPWORT 



stigma, as seen in the sketch. 

 Thus I discovered the flowers to 

 be dichogamous. The long 

 tube I found to be a veri- 

 table reservoir of honey, 

 which flowed down the in- 

 cline so as to be within 

 caching distance of the open- 

 ing. An unusual construction 

 to be noted is the insertion of 

 the stamens far down the tube, 

 at about one-third of its length, 

 though of course the pistil nec- 

 essarily must traverse the whole 

 distance to the ovary in the 

 calyx. 



Bouncing Bet — Saponaria officinalis 



This is a very common weed which came over 

 from Europe to seek its fortune in the New World, 

 with such success that it has spread far and w^ide 

 as a wild flower. Its other name, soapwort, comes 

 from the fact that the juicy sap of its stem, when 

 mixed with water, produces a lather. The figure 

 shows a section of the flower in its first stage, on 

 opening, where the anthers with pollen are well 

 in advance of the throat of the corolla, while the 



