6 Woodside. 



are common to both. The first of these is the peculiar 

 manner in which the young leaf is folded up on both sides, 

 from the margin to the mid-rib, exemplifying what is known 

 as involute vernation. What a spring-like ring this term 

 has, and how fittingly is it applied to the method in which 

 the leaf is folded in the bud ; for spring is, par excellence, 

 the time of leaves, just as summer is the time of flowers. 

 Still more important is the method of fertilisation, and the 

 wonderful modification that the petals have undergone to 

 ensure the visits of insects to the flower. The lowest petal 

 of the attractive corolla is, as you see, elongated into the 

 form of a tube or spur, called a nectary, and this is provided 

 with little glands, which distil from the sap the sweet 

 nectar that insects so dearly love. The anthers are arranged 

 in the form of a cylinder, and each one bears a little filament, 

 which juts out into the upper part of the nectary. When 

 an insect flies to the violet and pushes its head into the 

 nectary, in order to drive its tongue deep enough to reach 

 the nectar, its head is forced against these little prolonga- 

 tions, which stand out from the anthers, and this pressure, 

 acting as a lever on them, causes the anthers to bend down- 

 ward and scatter their pollen on the hairy thorax of the 

 insect. It then goes to another flower, and, in forcing its 

 way to the nectary, rubs some of the pollen, which has 

 already become entangled in its hairs, on the sticky surface 

 of the stigma which projects beyond the stamens (so making 

 self-fertilization impossible), and the pollen thus left fertilizes 

 the flower. 



But these are not the only remarkable things about the 

 violet. After the ordinary flowers are over, you may find, 

 low down on the plant, beneath the leaves, tiny blossoms 



