APRIL, 190G. SOME NOTES ON THE POLLINATION OF FLOWERS. 
19 
honey. Knuth (5) does not consider it appropriate to call such 
a flower a deceptive flower, since it does not deceive its visitors, 
but offers them at least as much nectar as the average umbelli- 
ferous flower. 
Parnassia Caroliniana, the species represented in the flora of 
Milwaukee County, blooms from about August 20 to October 4. 
It may be met with in damp localities throughout our region, but 
nowhere have I seen it growing in such profusion as in some 
places on the bluffs along the shore of Lake Michigan, as for 
example in the vicinity of Whitefish Bay, at South Milwaukee, 
etc. There is in this species a solitary flower at the top of a 
smooth scape of 3 to 4 dm. length, and the parts of the flower are 
all white, except the dark-green ovary. The newly opened flower 
has a diameter of 2 l / 2 cm., but by gradual growth this is incf eased 
to 4 cm. in the older flower. We are presented here, as in 
P. palustris, with a typical example of proterandy. When the 
flower opens the 5 stamens in different stages of growth lean up 
against the conical ovary, the latter is not full grown, and very 
little is to be seen of the undeveloped stigma. The most advanced 
stamen becomes longer, and places its extrorse anther on top of 
the ovary immediately above the stigma. After it has discharged 
its pollen the stamen is bent outward between the two corres- 
ponding petals, and another anther takes its place on top of the 
ovary. One by one the 5. anthers get rid of their pollen, and 
move out of the way. This period of the flower's existence 
represents the first or staminate stage, and is succeeded by the 
second or pistillate stage in which the stigma with its 4 or 5 
divisions reaches its full development, and becomes receptive. 
Five staminodia are also present as in P. palustris, but they are 
more simple in structure than in that species. Each staminodium 
has a smaller basal part, and sends off only 3 knob-tipped pro- 
cesses of equal length. There are no depressions serving as 
nectaries, and only a scant supply of nectar is secreted on the 
basal part, and in the lower region of the processes. The yellow 
shining glands at the tips of the processes resemble drops of 
liquid, and are arranged in a circle of 8 to 12 mm. diameter (ac- 
cording to the size of the flower) around the ovary. The stam- 
inodium in P. palustris represents a higher degree of development 
than that in P. Caroliniana, as demonstrated by the greater num- 
ber of glandular tips, and the more complex nectar-secreting 
5. P. Knuth. Blumen und Tnsekten auf den Nordfriesischen 
Inseln, 1892, pp. 34-35. 
