ENTOMOPHILOUS FLOWERS 125 



short tongue. Concealed honey is not accessible to 

 these short-tongued insects, hence they eagerly visit 

 pollen - flowers which yield a rich spoil of pollen. 

 Portulaca grandifiora is a common season herb of 

 our gardens, with red actinomorphic flowers, possess- 

 ing abundant pollen. In younger flowers the style 

 is erect and rises considerably above the stamens. 

 When mature, it falls down and reclines upon the 

 corolla. An insect visiting the flower naturally alights 

 upon the outspread petals 

 and walks down towards 

 the stamens, which, being 

 sensitive, fall upon the in- 

 sect on being disturbed and 

 dust it with pollen-grains. 

 Should the insect next visit 

 an older flower with the 

 style reclining upon the 



petals, it would be sure to Fig. 109. -Flower of Shial-kanta(/i,~ 



deposit the pollen of the- ^^^2^^^^::::^^. 



first flower upon the l"adi- is resting upon the concave petals 



ating and recurved stigmas 



of the second, and thus bring about cross-pollination. 

 The crossing of Poppy, shial-kanta, &c., is some- 

 what similarly effected. 



2. Flowers with Exposed Nectar. — These are 

 all simple, open, and for the most part regular flowers 

 (actinomorphic), generally white, greenish-white, or 

 yellow in colour. Short-tongued wasps and flies are 

 their chief visitors. Honey-bees and butterflies, which 

 are long-tongued, rarely visit them. Most Umbelli- 

 ferce and some Euphorbiacece are good examples of 

 flowers of this class. 



3. Flowers with Partially-concealed Nectar. 

 . — These are mostly actinomorphic, and not always 



