THE ADVANTAGE OF COLOR TO A FLOWER 



**A primrose by a river's brim 

 A yellow primrose was to him, 

 And it was nothing more." 



Poor Peter Bell! That he should 

 never even wonder why it was yellow. 



And that introduces the question, 

 "What advantage is color to a flower?" 

 Each one who has hovered over a row 

 of sweet peas, bowed adoringly before 

 a pansy-bed, or exulted in a sweep of 

 nodding Shirley poppies will exclaim, 

 "What greater advantage could anything 

 have than to so glorify and lighten this 

 earth of ours?" 



But there is a selfish use in the radiant 

 liues of the flower. The perpetuation of 

 its species depends upon its color, scent 

 and form. If one has not studied flowers 

 the parts of a blossom serve but to make 

 up an harmonious whole, beautiful in 

 texture, shading and design. But to the 

 knower, every flower possesses two sets 

 of organs, the male and the female. In 

 an ordinary flower the erect middle part 

 with a lobe or enlarged base is the fe- 

 male part, capable of producing the seed, 

 while the many little outposts guarding 

 her are the male members. In some spe- 

 cies the sexes are distinct, the male be- 

 ing produced on individual plants and 

 being of different shape from the female. 

 Meadow-rues, begonias, and some trees 

 exemplify this feature. 



In order that the pistil or female part 

 should become fertile, its sensitive tips 

 must receive the quickening, life-giving 

 power contained in the powdery pollen 

 on the ends of the stamens. And that is 

 effected, mostly, by bees, butterflies, and 

 moths who are attracted by the color and 

 sweetness and aided in the process of 

 fertilization, by the form of the flower. 

 The early April flowers, those that you 

 must look up for, not down, are mainly 

 inconspicuous in color and simple and 

 small in shape and size, appearing be- 

 fore the leaves develop. And the mi- 

 nute anthers are crowded to bursting 

 with pollen jiirains. That is because they 

 are fertilized' by the winds which waft 



the pollen from flower to flower, from 

 tree to tree. It is a little too changeable 

 weather to depend entirely on the bees, 

 so instead of trying to attract them, they 

 bend all their energies to producing pol- 

 len, sure, that with so much pollen and so 

 many breezes every little female will 

 receive her share of the valuable yellow 

 dust. But, when the insects are numer- 

 ous, every flower hangs out its advertise- 

 ment in glaring yellow, red or blue or 

 some accompanying soft tint, which 

 reads, "Honey here, unadulterated. First 

 class material -for bee-bread — fresh 

 daily." And some, as a double induce- 

 ment, exhale their sweet breath through 

 all the garden. 



Many and marvelous are the devices 

 of the flowers, but they all manage in 

 some way so that as the bee enters the 

 blossom he receives a generous coating 

 of pollen, some of which adheres to the 

 pistil of the same flower, if it is mature 

 at that time. But more of it is carried 

 to flowers of another plant, by which 

 means cross-fertilization which is best, 

 is effected. It is true and strange that 

 the insects always confine themselves to 

 some particular species on each jour- 

 ney, so no hybrids are produced. 



If you will wander among your plants 

 in the twilight you will notice that the 

 most conspicuous flowers are the da- 

 turas, moon flowers, nicotanias and night 

 blooming cereus. These depend upon 

 moths for fertilization so they are either 

 creamy-white or pale-yellow, which col- 

 ors are most noticeable in the dusk, and, 

 generally, evening flowers are very fra- 

 grant. If you will examine them, you 

 will find that most every flower has an 

 original way of fertilization and of pro- 

 tection after the seed is set. 



"Flower in the crannied wall, 



I pluck you out of the crannies, 



I hold you here, root and all, in my hand. 



Little flower— but if I could vinderstand 



What you are, root and all, and all in all, 



T should know what God and man is." 



Mary Auck Moylk. 



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