FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 
29 
pollen than it needs, so the insects may carry 
off all they wish without hurting the flower. 
When a bee is out hunting for pollen, he goes 
to the plant that he sees first. Yellow is a very 
noticeable color, so the sunflower puts on big 
yellow petals to make itself as gay and bright 
as possible. It is necessary for the plant’s future 
life that the bee sees it, and the bee usually does. 
The sunflower also puts its yellow flowers on the 
top of a tall straight stem to make them tower 
above all the other flowers in the garden. This 
helps the bee to find it. 
The sunflower is not the only flower that in¬ 
vites insect visitors by its gay coloring. Nearly 
all bright colored blossoms have the same 
object; the sweet peas, the clover, the daisies, the 
iris, and the phlox are a few of them. The 
sweet smelling flowers, too, give off their fra¬ 
grant odors so that the insects which do not see 
very well find them by the sense of smell. 
We do not know exactly why the sunflower 
is yellow rather than some other color nor what 
causes the difference in shades among the 
