SELF-FERTILISED FLOWERS 177 



Besides these, there are certain flowers which, 

 though usually cross-fertilised, yet have certain 

 tricks and schemes to fertilise themselves. Here 

 we find the inventive ingenuity of flowers mani- 

 fested in a new direction, and for an unexpected 

 purpose. 



Some flowers with long, tubular corollas and 

 persistent pistils have a curious way of withering, 

 separating from the calyx and slipping down the 

 styles till they hang, loosely swinging by the 

 stigma. I have often seen faded azalea, honey- 

 suckle and convolvulus flow^ers so dangling, and 

 wondered why they did so, till I heard the expla- 

 nation given that here was a means for bringing 

 loose, stray pollen grains, which might acciden- 

 tally remain in the tube, down to the stigma, 

 where it might be greatly needed. If this be 

 the correct solution of the matter, we here have 

 a very curious mechanism to accomplish self- 

 fertilisation. 



In the Campanulas and Gentians the relative po- 

 sitions of stamens and stigmas favour cross-fertili- 

 sation, but in case the customary visitor fails to ar- 

 rive with the desired cargo of pollen the stigmas 

 will split downward more and, curving outward, 

 come into contact with the anthers, or with pollen 

 collected in the corolla. 



