114 



FIRST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



end-flower of a spike of larkspur or foxglove or 

 snapdragon is quite regular in shape Can you guess 

 the meaning of this ? 



7. The various ways in which the irregular flowers 

 are fitted for the insects that visit them are very 

 wonderful. Each flower has its own plan, and we can 

 look at only one or two. Let us look at the plan of 

 this large blue garden salvia. 



8. How the salvia dusts the bee. We note first 

 of all that the corolla is tubular, and that the tube 

 is divided into a lip and a hood. Next we note 

 how the lip has been made strong by extra cords 

 in order to bear the weight of the bee. The hood 

 protects the anthers and the pistil from the rain. 

 And now we look carefully at the stamens. There are 

 but two anthers, and these are on stamens with a pecu- 



liar arrange- 

 ment of levers. 

 We follow down 

 the stamens, and 

 find these levers. 

 And now, we 

 thrust a straw 

 down to the 

 tube, and find 

 that, when it 

 touches the 

 levers, the anthers bend forward towards the lip. A 

 visiting bee could not fail to receive the pollen on its 

 back. The next point we notice is that in the sahda, 

 as in the geranium, the anthers shed their pollen 

 before the pistil is ripe. The pistil keeps out of the 

 way till it is ripe, and then it bends over and strikes 



(a) a flower just opened ; 

 flower at later stage. 



