THE FLOWER BBHAVlOU OF AVOCADOS 



147 



ready to receive pollen. Nectar appears as a glistening film over 

 the surface of the inner set of three nectaries, which stand from 

 between the inner set of stamens. Now bees and other insects 

 seeking nectar can scarcely fail to brush against the stigma of 

 the pistil. The pistil is ready for pollination but no pollen is 

 being shed from the stamens of the flower. The flower is for the 

 time being functioning only as a female. 



Directing attention to the numerous flowers open on this tree 

 of the Taylor variet)^ during this forenoon, one finds that all the 

 llowers are in the same condition as the flower just described. 

 No flowers are shedding pollen. All the flowers have the j)istils 

 ready for j)ollination. The entire tree functions as a female only 

 and this condition continues throughout the entire forenoon. 



About middaj^ this set of flowers closes without having shed 

 pollen. In doing this the perianth segments fold inward over the 

 pistil until the flower is completely and tightly closed (see at 3 

 in PLATES 25 and 26. Thus an entire set of flowers, numbering 

 for a large tree in the maximum of blooming more than a thou- 

 sand, has been open and in the female stage during several hours 

 of the forenoon and during midday these flowers have all closed 

 almost in unison. 



During the hours of midday and while the flowers which were 

 open during the forenoon are in the final processes of closing, the 

 flowers of another set begin to open. To a casual observer it 

 would doubtless appear that the same flowers open in the fore- 

 noon merely continue open during the afternoon. In fact unless 

 individual flowers are tagged for identification in further obser- 

 vation the complete midday shift of sets of flowers would prob- 

 ably not be discovered even under rather close observation. In 

 the only observations on flower behavior in avocados published 

 previously to those of the writer (Nirody, 1922) this shift of 

 sets of flowers was not observed for any of the varieties that 

 have the same daily sequence as the Taylor variety. 



The flowers of the set opening for the afternoon are distinctly 

 different in appearance from the set open during the forenoon 

 (see PLATE 25). The stamens are noticeably larger and some- 

 what longer. The inner three stand erect in the middle of the 

 flower around and overtopping the pistil. The end of the pistil 



