THE FLOWBK 



113 



6. Flowers with a lip. Many other flowers have 

 an aUghting stage hke the lip of the snapdragon, and,, 

 indeed, a large family of flowers is called the Lip- 

 flowered family. This family includes the salvias,, 

 lavender, thyme, and mint. Notice that the lip is 



always in front, in the 

 part of the flower where 

 the insect alights. Notice, 

 too, that many irregular 

 flowers, the snapdragon, 

 the larkspur, the gladio- 

 lus, the foxglove, run up 

 in spikes ; and each 

 flower is so close to the 

 stem that the bee can 

 visit it only from one 

 side. The bee, therefore, 

 has no choice as to the 

 petals he shall alight 

 upon ; and hence, pro- 

 bably, the large lip. 

 Compare such flowers with regular flowers like the 

 poppy or the tulip, which do not grow close to the 

 side of a spike, and you will see that there is nothing 

 to hinder the bee from alighting on any part of 

 the corolla. There is nothing, therefore, to cause 

 such flowers to grow irregular.* And here we have 

 to notice a most interesting fact. Now and then, the 



Flfr/b 



Foxglove. 



* Many recent observations go to show that mites, fungi and other 

 irritating agents can alter the shapes of flowers, and can cause petals to 

 change into sepals, stamens into petals, and so on. Note also that flowers 

 can be made double by mechanical irritation. It was this fact that first 

 suggested that the irritation caused by the constant visits of bees, etc., 

 may have altered, in many cases, the forms of flowers. 



