Wild Flowers as They Grow 



hives " bee-bread " made of pollen to feed their 

 nymphs and larvae. Hence they visit the blossoms 

 eagerly, and go away well satisfied with their harvest. 

 In the very centre are five minute structures — the 

 carpels — each consisting of an ovary, a style, and 

 a stigma. As they ripen they provide us with a 

 little surprise, as is usual in this family, where the 

 fruits always tend to form in a curiously individual 

 way instead of after a t3^e, for they twist and lie 

 so as to form a spiral. As the fruit is, at best, 

 very small, this point is often overlooked even by 

 those who are very familiar with the plant. Lord 

 Avebury asks, " Can the object be to mimic small 

 caterpillars, and thus inveigle birds to carry them 

 about ? " It is quite possible, for we know that 

 such mimicry undoubtedly exists in other plants, 

 such as in the castor-oil plant, where the seeds are 

 hke beetles and obviously intended to deceive birds. 

 Inside the twisted cases are small brown, flattened 

 seeds. The flowers, no doubt, are usually cross- 

 fertilised, for the stamens are ripe and shed their 



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