122 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



Then, again, there is the flower of the 

 nettle, which in most plants is so much the 

 most conspicuous part of all. Yet in this 

 particular plant it is so unobtrusive that most 

 people never notice its existence in any way. 

 That is because the nettle is wind-fertilised, 

 and so does not need bright and attractive 

 petals. Here are the flowering branches, a 

 lot of little forked antler-like spikes, sticking 

 out at right angles from the stem, and half 

 concealed by the leaves of the row above 

 them. Like many other wind - fertilised 

 flowers, the stamens and pistils are collected 

 on different plants — a plan which absolutely 

 ensures cross-fertilisation, without the aid of 

 insects. I pick one of the stam.en-bearing 

 clusters, and can see that it is made up of 

 small separate green blossoms, each with four 

 tiny leaf-like petals, and with four stamens 

 doubled up in the centre. I touch the 

 flowers with the tip of my pocket-knife, and 

 in a second the four stamens jump out elas- 

 tically as if alive, and dust the white pollen 

 all over my fingers. Why should they act 



