126 



BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



quite independent of them ; while the size of the corolla 

 increases with the dependence on insects. In those 



species in which self-fertilisa- 

 tion is prevented by the circum- 

 stance that the stamens and 

 pistil do not come to maturity 

 at the same time, the stamens 

 generally ripen first. 



G. pratense agrees in many 

 respects with G. sylvaticum 

 (Fig. 71), but the flowers in the 

 former are larger, and the pedi- 

 cels of the fruit spreading or 

 reflexed instead of erect. The 

 Fig. 70. — Geranium pratense plant is generally covercd with 

 (young flower). Five of the glandular hairs. These species 



stameus are erect. o . . -, , .■,■*- 



are visited by certain butter- 

 flies, moths, flies, and beetles, as well as by bees ; G. 

 phcBum, on the contrary, almost exclusively by bees, 

 possibly, as Knuth has suggested, because the hanging- 

 position of the flower is incon- 

 venient for other insects. G. 

 dissectum, G. columbinum, and 

 G. pusillum are protogynous. 

 In the last species the five outer 

 stamens rarely develop anthers. 

 I have discussed the relations of 

 the Geraniums to insects at some- 

 what greater length in my British 

 Wild Flowers considered in re- . 

 lation to Insects. G. Robertianum 

 does not possess the fringes of 

 hairs by which, as already men- 

 tioned, the honey is in G. sylva- 

 ticum protected against the access 

 of rain or creeping insects ; on 

 the contrary, the petals are entirely glabrous. The 

 flowers, however, turn over and hang down in wet 

 weather. Moreover, the flower is less open than usual. 



Fig. 71. 



-Geranium sylvaticum. 



