'Blossom Hosts and Insect Guests 



pointed affair, which never even peeps beyond its 

 calyx. Unpretentious as it seems, it produces a pod 

 that is literally packed with seeds. It matures in 

 the late summer and autumn. 



These seed packets are among the finest sharp- 

 ^^ shooters of the autumn 



jt^'ln a ^ woods, often pinching 

 out their pear-shaped 

 seeds a distance of ten 

 feet upon the dried 

 leaves. 



Cleistogamous flow- 

 ers are an economical 

 provision, as they pro- 

 duce many seeds at 

 small cost to the plant. 

 They doubtless prove 

 of great value, too, 



THE violet's blind FLOWER 



where there are few 

 insects or where other conditions exist unfavor- 

 able to frequent cross-fertilization. 



The ginseng, the polygala, and some other plants 

 hide their cleistogamous flowers below ground. 

 The fact that these self-fertilized flowers are always 

 found on plants bearing also cross-fertilized blos- 

 soms goes to prove that Nature never leaves a 



