69 FLOWERING PLANTS 
Ranunculacex, are not only cross- pollinated, but can pollinate 
themselves in the absence of insect visits. In Monkshood and 
Larkspur self-pollination is impossible, for the stamens are ripe 
betore the carpels. 
The name Monkshood is due to the conspicuous 
sepal which arches over the rest of the flower, like 
a hood. There are altogether five sepals: the posterior, which 
Monkshood. 

is the largest ; there are two lateral and two anterior, which 
are much smaller. . The corolla 
consists of four petals; the two 
posterior ones are furnished with 
long claws, and are modified 
into nectaries, which are con- 
cealed by the posterior sepal. 
Only one of these is seen in the 
figure, which represents half the 
flower. There are two anterior 
petals, very minute and some- 
times absent. The stamens— 
as always in the Ranunculacee 
Fio- 57._-Mgoian Varrica, are ‘Mumerous, and. there are 
SECTION OF MonxKsHoop. three to five carpels, each bear- 
p.s, posterior sepal ; Z.s, lateral ing several ovules. 
sepa!» 9-3; entero Sopal> PP, Monkshood 18 very. plentiful 
posterior petal; st, stamens ; : 
c, carpels. in Switzerland; in the month 
| of August it covers the slopes 
of the Engadine mountains, and, indeed, is distributed 
throughout the Alps, where Sprengel had abundant oppor- 
tunity of observing its pollination. He tells us that humble- 
bees, attracted by the conspicuous dark purple calyx, alight — 
on the lateral sepals, and with their proboscis suck the 
honey from the nectaries concealed in the hood. Mean- 
while the stamens, which ripen before the carpels, are 
shedding their pollen on to the under surface of the bee’s 
body. When the insect flies away to another flower, if it 
alights on one in which the stamens are withered, the pollen 
with which it is covered will be deposited on the stigmas of 


