26 



It is due mostly to this crowding that the flowers have departed 

 somewhat from the usual monocotyledonous habit of having 

 three, or its multiple, in their floral parts. In general the flowers 

 showed four perianth parts. These were almost cuboidal in 

 shape, when pressed close together, and they overlapped each 

 other, making a box-like arrangement. The four stamens have 

 long flat, broad filaments and straw-colored anthers, which pro- 

 trude beyond the perianth segments. The stamens are arranged 

 opposite the perianth parts. The anthers are two-celled, opening 

 lengthwise and are extrorse and rather free in their movement. 

 The flowers are protandrous, the anthers developing earlier 

 than the pistil. The pistil is unusual in its general structural 

 form. The stigma is three-lobed, the style is cuboidal and the 

 ovary is one-celled. 



In a cluster of about 73, some flowers showed a few variations. 

 These were either near the lip or the base where less crowded. 

 It seemed an attempt to revert to the usual number of parts in 

 the lilaceous monocotyledones. Four specimens w"ere found 

 having six stamens and six perianth parts. Another flower showed 

 five stamens and five perianth parts. And still another specimen 

 was found having four stamens, but with six perianth segments. 



The color of the flowers, according to one author, resembling 

 decayed flesh, combined with the odor which is doubly suggestive, 

 attract carrion-loving flies of the family Diptera, which are useful 

 in the pollination of the closely crowded, otherwise inconspicuous 

 blossoms. 



Insect visitors. — From a recent article in American Forestry 

 by R. W. Shufeldt, I find that a variety of bee introduced into 

 this country from Europe is one of the earliest visitors, since they 

 must have food early in the spring. The article further states 

 that the honey bee, if able at all to enter, finds the exit too narrow 

 and slippery and the bee perishes miserably. Another curious 

 fact he has noted also is the frequent presence of spiders' webs 

 at the entrance to the spathes. This fact was also noted by me. 

 It is a case where the flower odor attracts the flies, and they in 

 turn are entangled in the spider's web and so furnish food for 

 the spider. 



