120 



BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



opens the anthers are arranged in a cone over the as 



yet undeveloped stig- 

 mas. After they have 

 shed their pollen they 

 become limp and droop, 

 as in Fig. 63, 2. The 

 styles then elongate, 

 and take the position 

 previously occupied by 

 the stamens. The 

 flowers are much visited 

 by insects, and as the 

 styles are not ripe until 

 the anthers have shed 

 their pollen, the flower can hardly fertilise itself, which 

 under the circumstances is not necessary. Perhaps for 

 the same reason it does not matter that the honey is 

 not thoroughly protected. Knuth gives a list of over 



Fig, 63. 



-1, Malva 

 and stigmas {st) of same. 



2, stamens (a) 



1 2 



Pig. 64. — 1, Malva rotundi/olia ; 2, stamens (a) and stigmas [st) of same. 



fifty insect visitors recorded by H. Miiller, himself, and 

 other observers. The bees generally visit the flowers 

 for the sake of the honey, but one species, at any 

 rate, Chelostoma nigricorne, comes for the sake of the 

 pollen. 



M. rotundifolia is homogamous, or nearly so. The 

 flowers are smaller, and the visits of insects less frequent. 



