16 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



four lobes, each enclosing a cavity in which are a number of ovules, 

 a long style, and a small four-lobed stigma. It is formed of four 

 united carpels. 



The flowers stand as a rule horizontally on the inflorescence, 

 and the style, and to a lesser degree the stamens, usually bend 

 somewhat upward. The stigma is borne on the long style well 

 in front of the stamens, so that the pollen is not likely to reach 

 the stigma of the same flower by accident. The small brightly 

 coloured flowers are so massed together and the plants grow so 

 commonly associated together that the purple patches are con- 

 spicuous from a distance when the Heather is in bloom. This is 

 from July to September, and at its height in August. Insect 

 visitors of various kinds bees, butterflies, moths, and flies come 

 in numbers to the flowers, and may all effect pollination. They 

 come in search of the nectar. This is secreted by the nectaries, 

 which alternate with the stamens, and it accumulates at the base 

 of the short corolla-tube. The way to the nectar lies between 

 the stamens, and it has been seen that the appendages of the 

 anthers extend so as to touch the corolla-tube on all sides. An 

 insect's tongue can hardly fail to touch the appendages, and so 

 disturb the anthers, from which the loose pollen will readily fall 

 on the head of the visitor. 



An insect on approaching a flower will meet the stigma first, 

 and thus deposit any pollen it may bring from another flower 

 upon this. Heavy insects, such as bees, grasp the flower and their 

 weight pulls it down into a vertical position, so that the pollen 

 will readily fall on the head of the visitor and be deposited on the 

 stigma of a flower subsequently visited. Smaller flies creep into 

 the horizontal flower and obtain the honey by the wider opening 

 beneath the stamens. The result is, however, the same. 



After pollination the pistil develops into a small four-lobed 

 capsule, each cavity of which contains a number of very minute 

 seeds. The fruit remains on the plant through the winter enclosed 

 by the withered brown calyx and corolla. In the following spring 

 it opens and liberates the seeds. These germinate under suitable 

 conditions, but the plants do not reach a size at which they bear 

 flowers for a number of years. Seedlings can always be found in 

 numbers on areas where the heather has been burned. 



