ON THE NECTARIES Of tLOWEJlS. JJTg 



Steeped in this luscious juice, when there is not any perceptible 

 hi the cup of the flower. Another sort of secret nectary is 

 found in most triandrian and hexandrian plants j which have triandrian and 

 their seed-vessels very low in the stem, and .the concealed nee- ^exandriaa 

 tary reaching from the bottom of the corolla to the germe. In ^ ^° *' 

 •ome flowers it is above two inches deep j nor is it useless in ' 



this situation j it is not only ready to rise to the stigma to im- 

 pregnate the plant, but it has various vessels passing through the 

 exterior of the seed-vessel (where it joins the nectary) to nou- 

 rish the embryo till the flower decays, and the rest of the lusci- 

 ous juice evaporates. In the tetradynamian flowers, as well andintetrady- 

 as the geraniums and some others, the apparent well is on one namian pbntt. 

 side of the stem, reaching from the corolla to a certain mark, 

 or to a stipula ; and always distinguished by one of the leaves of 

 the calyx turning up, while all the rest turn down. The open 

 nectaries of these flowers are as various as the plants. In most 

 of the geraniums it is a trough between the corolla and stamen, 

 rising round the pistil, and oozing up from the well below. 

 In the triandrian plants the second nectaries are generally either 

 cavities at the bottom of the stamen, or vessels managed within 

 the corolla. The admirable double nectary of the iris deve- The double 

 lopes much of the intentions of Nature in its formation, since "^ctaryof the 

 its secret repository is not quite closed, but is sure to catch the 

 insect that attempts to seize its contents. The open nectary is 

 in some species a beautiful fringe with a wide vessel down the 

 reflected petal, and in others it consists of three honey-bearing 

 excrescences flowing from the same source: but the secreted 

 juice is found in a deep cavity in the stem, having a trough at 

 the top, and within the flower, to hold the precious liquid. 

 The two points of this trough secure the insect as it crawls 

 down between the peials, when, not contented with the feast 

 the open one bestows, it stretches out its proboscis to get at the 

 honey within the trough. How often have I stood contem- 

 plating this picture, and seen the insect try to insinuate itself 

 lower and lower, though apparently well informed of the danger 

 it was encountering ! I found the other day, in a ytllow iris The nectary 

 on the border of the river, a bee, which, having ventured too seizing an iav 

 far, was caught by the projecting points of the trough, which, 

 like the stamen of the beroerris and apocynum andro^ceinifolium, 

 had got it fastened between them : and it would there have died, 



had 



