The (Milkweed: ^ Bluebeard "Blossom 



and other seemingly inexplicable attributes. Its 

 threshold must bear its own peculiar welcome to 

 its insect, or perhaps to its humming-bird friend, or 

 counterpart ; its nectaries must both tempt and re- 

 ward his coming, and its petals assist his comfort- 

 able tarrying. 



Next to the floral orchids, the mechanism of our 

 milkweed blossom is, perhaps, the most complex and 

 remarkable, and illustrates as perfectly as any of the 

 orchid examples given in Darwin's noble work the 

 absolute divine intention of the dependence of a 

 plant species upon the visits of an insect. 



Our milkweed flower is a deeply planned con- 

 trivance to insure such an end. It fills the air with 

 enticing fragrance. Its nectaries are stored with 

 sweets, and I fancy each opening bud keenly alert 

 with conscious solicitude for its affinity. Though 

 many other flowers manage imperfectly to perpet- 

 uate their kind in the default of insect intervention, 

 the milkweed, like most of the orchids, is helpless 

 and incapable of such resource. Enclose this bud- 

 ded umbel in tarlatan gauze and it will bloom days 

 after its fellow-blooms have fallen, anticipating its 

 consummation, but no pods will be seen upon this 

 cluster. 



What a singular decree has Nature declared with 



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