Yellow and Orange 



scented white species (see p. 1 73), must it never receive its just 

 meed of praise ? Hiawatha's canoe, let it be remembered, 



" Floated on the river 

 Like a yellow leaf in autumn, 

 Like a yellow water-lily." 



But even those who admire Longfellow's lines see no beauty 

 in the golden flower-bowls floating among the large, lustrous, 

 leathery leaves. 



By assuming the functions of petals, the colored sepals adver- 

 tise for insects. Beetles, which answer the first summons to a 

 free lunch, crowd in as the sepals begin to spread. In the centre 

 the star-like disc, already sticky, is revealed, and on it any pollen 

 they have carried with them from older flowers necessarily rubs 

 off. At first, or while the stigma is freshly receptive to pollen, 

 an insect cannot make his entrance except by crawling over this 

 large, sticky plate. At this time, the anthers being closed, self- 

 fertilization is impossible. A day or two later, after the pollen 

 begins to ripen on countless anthers, the flower is so widely 

 open that visitors have no cause to alight in the centre ; any way, 

 no harm could result if they did, cross-fertilization having been 

 presumably accomplished. While beetles (especially Donacia) 

 are ever abundant visitors, it is likely they do much more harm 

 than good. So eagerly do they gnaw both petals and stamens, 

 which look like loops of narrow yellow ribbon within the bowl 

 of an older flower, that, although they must carry some pollen to 

 younger flowers as they travel on, it is probable they destroy ten 

 times more than their share. Flies transport pollen too. The 

 smaller bees {Halictus and Andrena chiefly) find some nectar 

 secreted on the outer faces of the stamen-like petals, which they 

 mix with pollen to make their babies' bread. 



The very beautiful native American Lotus (l^elumbo lutea), 

 also known as Water Chinkapin or Wankapin, found locally in 

 Ontario, the Connecticut River, some lakes, slow streams, and 

 ponds in New Jersey, southward to Florida, and westward to 

 Michigan and Illinois, Indian Territory and Louisiana, displays its 

 pale yellow flowers in July and August. They measure from four 

 to ten inches across, and suggest a yellow form of the sweet- 

 scented white water lily; but there are fewer petals, gradually 

 passing into an indefinite number of stamens. The great round, 

 ribbed leaves, smooth above, hairy beneath, may be raised high 

 above the water, immersed or floating. Both leaf and flower 

 stalks contain several large air canals. The flowers which are fe- 

 male when they expand far enough for a pollen-laden guest to 

 crawl into the centre, are afterward male, securing cross-fertiliza- 

 tion by this means, just as the yellow pond lily does ; only the small 



390 



