THE FLOWBK 119 



our roads and streets and houses and clothes 'Vvill be 

 when we too have learned to make all our useful 

 things beautiful ! 



3. When looking for the guide-lines in the nastur- 

 tium you noticed, I daresay, the hairs on the lower 

 tlfi-ee petals. What are these ? 



4. Hairs that act as fences to guard the honey. 



Well you must know that in England, the insect that 

 helps the Indian cress to make its seed is the humble 

 bee. The hairs do not hinder this great bee from 

 reaching the honey, but they make a tangle which 

 small honey thieves cannot get through. These hairs 

 grow on the part of the flower that bears the weight 

 of the bee ; and, indeed, the hairs may be caused by 

 the bee pressing so often on this part. We know that 

 hairs are very common in any part of a plant that is 

 irritated in any way. In the ivy, it is only when the 

 stem is touched by the wall that the hairs grow out 

 that become air-roots. In the leaf-galls that are 

 caused by little grubs irritating the leaves, there are 

 often hairs inside and outside of the galls. This, then, 

 would explain why the three lower petals are hairy, 

 while the two upper petals have no hairs. 



6. Sometimes, instead of a fence of hairs, a flower 

 has a sticky patch that small insects cannot creep over. 

 Here, again, the sticky fluid may be caused by the 

 constant touch of the bee. This gives us a hint as to 

 how honey- stores may have been formed to suit 

 exactly the insect that visits the flower.* 



* Nectar is not confined to the flower, but may be found in other parts of 

 some plants. In very good seasons there may even, in some plants, be an 

 overflow of nectar in the leaves- At such times the leaves seem to maJie 

 sugar too fast. 



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