The Yellow Flag 



times we find flowers of a slightly modified shape 

 where the leafy stigma Hes so close upon the sepals 

 that there is no room for a bee to enter and the 

 hover-fly in penetrating the narrow entrance is per- 

 force bound to do the kind office of cross-fertilisa- 

 tion in return for its honey. Only the non-sensitive 

 lower edge of the stigmatic scale is touched as it 

 passes, but no pollen is left upon it ; this is retained 

 among the hairs of the fly's thorax and deposited 

 on the stigma of the next flower visited. This time, 

 too, it cannot rob the flower of its pollen ; the exit is 

 too narrow to allow of anything but a crawl out. 



Finally the floral leaves fade and drop away 

 from the top of the capsule, which increases in size. 

 Inside it the seeds mature until they are little brown 

 objects flattened on top and below by pressure one 

 from another. 



The Iris belongs to the family of the Iridece, of 

 which the crocus and the gladiolus are also members. 

 It only differs from the daffodil family in its 

 members having three stamens instead of six. , 



56 33 



