JAN. 1907. WISCONSIN FLOWERS AND THEIR POLLINATION, 
45 
slightly proteraiidrous, and in the fully opened nodding flower 
spontaneous self-pollination may easily result from the position 
of the recurving stigmas directly below the anthers. Small drops 
of nectar from the septal glands may be seen near the base of 
the ovary. A bumble-bee was observed by Miss Carter sucking 
nectar. 
Trillium recurvatum Beck. Prairie Wake-robin. 
Robertson (28) has given an account of the pollination of this 
dark purple erect flower. Usually a number of plants grow to- 
gether in patches in damp woods. The flowers of our region, 
blooming from May 15 to about June i agree in all details with 
those from southern Illinois as described by Robertson. The 
green sepals are reflexed, but the dark purple petals form an 
arch over the middle of the flower. The rigid anthers with their 
remarkably broad connective are very dark in color, and are 
inclined over the dark purple branches of the style. Pollen may 
fall directly on the stigmas, and this is one way in which spon- 
taneous self-pollination is possible. It also takes place when the 
recurved stigma touches an anther lined with pollen, a procedure 
which I have witnessed in several older flowers. As Robertson 
remarks, the flowers possess neither nectar nor odor, in fact 
nothing to attract insects except possibly the purple color, and 
he expresses the opinion that they may be visited by small flies 
at night. On May 20 during the day I watched a fungus-gnat 
Sciorn exigna Say (family Mycetophilidw) crawling around in 
a flower and coming in contact with both anthers and stigmas. 
Although such a visit may be favorable to pollination, the flies of 
this family can hardly be depended upon to pay regular visits 
to these flowers, and it is more than probable that in T. recnrz'a- 
tum spontaneous self-pollination is the method usually resorted to. 
28. CTias. Eobertson. Loc. cit., p. 273. 
