Wild Flowers as They Grow 



immortalised historically by having started the 

 botanist Sprengel in 1887 on his now classical re- 

 searches into the true meaning of every adaptation 

 in a flower. He tells us that he felt that " the wise 

 author of Nature would not have created even a 

 hair in vain," so he sought the plan behind it. 



As to fertilisation, though the flower is occasion- 

 ally visited by insects, it is not very dependent upon 

 them. The pollen is ready to fertihse and the 

 stigmas to be fertilised at one and the same time, 

 and no doubt the plant is self-sufiicient as a general 

 rule. Sometimes, however, the strain will be 

 strengthened by a cross-fertilisation. Flies are 

 found now and then visiting the flower ; the dis- 

 agreeable scent may even attract them, and their 

 tongues are guided down to the honey through the 

 passages formed by the ridges on the petals. 



And now comes the most interesting episode in 



the life of Herb Robert. As the flower fades, the 



central axis, round which the parts of the ovary 



are ranged, gradually lengthens, and the whole 



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