Cultivated Plant Study 



677 



calyx. If we watch one of these buds day after day, we find that the 

 green cone changes to a yellow color and n softer texture as the bud un- 

 folds, and then we discover that it is the corolla itself; however, Lhese ribs 

 which extend out to the tip of the corolla-lobes remain greenish below, 

 permanently. The expanding of the flower bud is a pretty process; each 

 lobe, supported by a strong midrib, spreads out into a five-pointed star, 

 each point being 

 very sharp and an- 

 gular because, 

 folded in along 

 these edges in one 

 of the prettiest of 

 Nature's hems, is 

 the ruffled margin 

 of the flower. Not 

 until the sun has 

 shone upon the 

 star for some little 

 time of a summer 

 morning, do these 

 tumed-in margins 

 open out; and, late 

 in the afternoon or 

 during a storm, 

 they fold down 

 again neatly before 

 the lobes close up; 

 if a bee is not lively 

 in escaping she 

 may, willy-nilly, 

 get a night's lodg- 

 ing, for these folded 

 edges literally hem 

 her in. 



The story of the 



treasure at the The closing of a pumpkin flower. 



heart of this starry, 1, Staminate flower beginning to close; note the folded edges of the lobes 

 "k^ll ^\^r^-,-.^A fl^xrr^.- 2, Pistil late flowcr Dcarl y closed. 3, Staminate flower closed 



bell-snapea nower and in its last stage. 



is a double one, and 



we had best begin it by selecting a flower that has below it a little green 

 globe — the ovary — which will later develop into a pumpkin. At the 

 heart of such a flower there stand three stigmas, that look like liliputian 

 boxing-gloves ; each is set on a stout, postlike style, which has its base in a 

 great nectar-cup, the edges of which are slightly incurved over its welling 

 sweetness. In order to reach this nectar, the lady bee must stand on her 

 head and brush her pollen-dusted side against the greedy stigmas. Pro- 

 fessor Duggar has noted that in dry weather the margins of this nectar-cup 

 contract noticeably, and that in wet weather the stigmas close down as if 

 the boxing-gloves were on closed fists. 



The other half of the pumpkin-blossom story is to be found in the 

 flowers which have no green globes below them, for these produce the 

 pollen. Such a flower has at its center a graceful pedestal with a broad 



