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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Ser»temb«>r  10,  H98. 
insects  with  a  veiy  long  proboici^.  In  its  native  baants  the  flower 
is  fertilised  by  humming  bird  hawk  mothi  and  long-noeed  bees, 
to  suit  which  class  of  visitors  it  is  wholly  organised.  The  two 
upper  petals  differ  conspicuously  from  the  three  lower  ones. 
They,  as  well  as  the  lobes  of  the  calyx  beneath  them,  are  prettily 
marked  by  darker  streaks  or  lines,  which  all  converge  towards 
the  mouth  of  the  honey-bearing  *pur,  these  lines  being  in  point 
of  fact  honey  guides  to  show  the  fertilising  insect  the  way  to  the 
store-house.  The  three  lower  petals,  on  the  other  hand,  have 
long  claws  and  no  lines  ;  they  are  provided  instead  with  a  curious 
fringe  of  barbs  or  hairs,  which  act  as  chevaux  de  /rise  to  prevent 
small  flying  insects  from  settling  on  the  petals  and  creeping  up 
the  tpur  so  as  to  steal  the  honey.  Such  small  insects  are  not 
wanted  by  the  plant,  because  owing  to  its  organisation  they  cannot 
fertilise  it,  and  would  only  rob  it  of  the  valuable  honey  which  it 
stoies  for  the  allurement  of  moths  and  bees  that  can.  It  protects 
itself  accordingly  by  this  triple  fence,  raised  on  the  lower  petals, 
which  form  the  favourite  landing  stage  or  alighting  platform. 
The  actual  fertilisation  is  accomplished  in  this  fashion — the 
Tropseolum  when  it  first  opens  bends  the  anthers  of  its  stamens  in 
a  curve  upwards,  so  that  they  come  just  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
spur.  Any  proper  insect  which  then  poises  itfelf  on  its  wings  in 
front  of  the  flower,  and  probes  the  tube  with  its  proboscis  in  search 
of  honey,  comes  necessarily  in  contact  with  the  anthers  or  pollen 
sacs,  and  dusts  itself  all  over  with  ripe  pollen,  which  it  carries  with 
it  to  fertilise  another  flower  in  a  more  advanced  stage  of  develop¬ 
ment.  This  first  state  of  the  blossom,  when  only  the  stamens  are 
mature,  may  be  fitly  described  as  its  male  period.  A  little  later, 
however,  when  all  the  pollen  has  been  shed,  the  bloom  assumes  its 
second  or  female  state.  In  this  condition  the  stamens  bend  down 
again,  their  anthers  having  shrivelled  ;  but  the  style  and  stigma, 
which  were  hitherto  turned  down  and  tucked  neatly  out  of  the 
way,  so  as  not  to  interffre  with  the  business  of  pollen  dispersion, 
now  lengthen  and  turn  up  till  the  three-forked  tip,  wiih  its  sensi¬ 
tive  surface,  occupies  at  last  just  the  same  position  opposite  the 
mouth  of  the  spur  which  was  formerly  occupied  by  the  ripe 
stamens.  Any  insect  which  comes  to  visit  the  blossom  in  this 
second  stage  will  bring  with  him  pollen  from  other  flowers,  and  rub 
it  off  against  the  three  sticky  forks  of  the  stigma.  Thus,  Nature’s 
great  object  of  cross  fertilisation  will  be  duly  effected. 
Now,  examine  the  various  flowers  of  “  Nasturtiums  ”  in  your 
garden,  and  note  for  yourself  that  these  things  are  so.  Observe 
the  sequence  of  male  and  female  stagf  s.  After  that,  bend  back  the 
spur  of  one  such  Nasturtium  till  it  touches  the  flower  stem  ; 
imagine  the  two  grown  solidly  together,  and  you  have  a  perfect 
model  of  tt  3  evolution  of  scarlet  Geranium. 
Probably  ,  on  have  never  noticed  till  this  moment  that  the 
scarlet  Geranium  has  not  five  equal  and  similar  petals,  but  that 
its  corolla  is  divided  into  two  unequal  groups  like  that  of  the 
“  Nasturtium.”  And,  indeed,  the  object  of  gardeners  in  “  develop¬ 
ing  ”  and  “  improving  ”  the  original  flower  has  been  to  obliterate 
as  far  as  possible  these  natural  distinctions,  so  as  to  get  a  “  full  and 
even  bloom.”  Nevertheless,  even  in  the  plants  on  which  cultivation 
has  done  its  worst,  some  trace  of  the  original  distinction  can  still 
be  noted  ;  while  in  many  “  Geraniums  ”  the  inequality  is  still  very 
perceptible.  Examine  the  flower  closely,  and  you  will  note,  indeed^ 
that  it  has  two  upper  petals,  exactly  like  the  “  Nasturtium,”  and 
three  unlike  lower  ones.  The  two  upper  are  also  faintly  marked 
with  obscure  honey  guides,  scarcely  perceptible  in  some  specimeni, 
but  quite  noticeable  in  others,  and  much  more  distinctly  visible  in 
the  purple  or  variegated  hothouse  Pelargoniums.  These  upper 
petals  are  narrower  and  longer  clawed  than  the  others  ;  the  three 
lower  ones  are  broader,  rounder,  and  differently  inserted. 
Next,  tnrn  round  the  flower  and  view  it  from  the  back.  You 
will  see  at  once  that  four  of  its  calyx  lobes  are  equal  and  similar, 
while  the  fifth  and  uppermost  is  larger  and  broader,  as  is  also  the 
case  with  the  same  part  in  the  “Nasturtium.”  It  forms  a  sort  of 
background  and  support  to  the  two  upper  petals — the  ones  with 
the  honey  guides.  Remove  these  two  upper  petals,  and  you  wilJ 
see  why.  At  their  base  is  a  long  hole  or  tube,  which  is  really  the 
spur  of  the  upper  calyx  lobe,  united  and  firmly  welded  into  one- 
with  the  flower  stalk.  Its  end  secretes  the  honey  ;  and  the  method 
of  fertilisation  is  just  the  same  as  in  the  “Nasturtium,”  the- 
stamens  and  then  the  stigma  bending  up  in  a  precisely  similar 
way,  so  as  to  come  successively  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  honey 
tube.  In  fact,  as  I  said  before,  a  “scarlet  Geranium”  is,  so  tu 
speak,  a  “  Nasturtium,”  in  which  the  spur  and  the  flower  stalk  have- 
coalesced  together  into  a  single  organ.  A  slight  hump  on  the 
stalk  near  the  base  marks  the  spot  where  the  spur  ends,  or  where 
tbe  tube  leaves  off^  This  is  the  point  at  which  the  honey  i&- 
collected. 
Our  Tropaeolum  is  not  very  closely  related  to  the  scarlet- 
Geranium,  though  it  is  one  of  the  Geranium  family  ;  but  both 
have  hit  cut  a  similar  mode  of  fertilisation.  Nevertheless,  the^• 
Tropseolum  has  three  carpels  and  three  forks  to  its  stigma,  while 
the  scarlet  Geranium  has  five  of  each  ;  and  the  fruit  of  the  former 
has  not  the  characteristic  Geranium  shape.  But  the  true  Gera¬ 
niums  of  Britain,  of  which  the  Herb  Robert  is  a  well-known  wild 
example,  wbilw  the  Geranium  sanguineum  is  a  commonly  culti¬ 
vated  member,  form  the  real  starting  point  of  the  Pelargonium 
type.  Tbe  arrangement  of  the  flower  and  the  fruit  is  almost  the 
same  in  Geranium  sanguineum  and  in  the  scarlet  Pelargonium,, 
only  the  petals  in  the  northern  form  are  all  alike,  and  there  is  no 
spur  or  honey  cavity.  The  honey  is  produced  at  the  base  of  all 
five  petals  equally,  and  is  accessible  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
insects.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  Pelargonium  type  is  a 
modification  and  improvement  on  this  earlier  model.  Honey  is 
here  produced  at  the  base  of  two  petals  instead  of  five  ;  it  is* 
concealed  in  a  spur,  which  renders  it  inaccessible  to  common 
thieving  insects  ;  the  two  petals  in  question  are  specialised  as  honey 
guides  ;  and  a  method  is  evolved  by  which  first  the  stamens  and 
then  the  stigma  stand  successively  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  spur, 
so  as  absolutely  to  insure  cross-fertilisation.  This  shows  the  Pelar¬ 
goniums  to  be  advanced,  improved,  and  specialised  Geraniums. 
The  mark  of  the  Pelargonium  genus  is  thus  the  possession  of  the 
spurred  lobe  to  the  calyx,  which  carries  with  it  the  other 
improvements  in  specialisation  of  petals  and  mode  of  fertilisation. 
Tt  is  interesting  to  note,  by  the  way,  that  our  little  wild  English 
Erodium  cicutarium  is  a  Geranium  halfway  on  its  road  to  become 
a  Pelargonium  ;  for  here,  though  there  is  no  spur,  only  the  two 
upper  petals  produce  honey,  and  these  two  have  honey  guides  and 
a  different  shape,  while  tbe  lower  three  serve  merely  as  a  platform 
for  the  visiting  insects. 
HARDY  FLOWER  NOTES. 
To  the  admirer  of  hardy  perennial  flowers  there  is  hardly  any 
season  which  does  not  yield  him  pleasures  rare  and  precious.  From 
the  dawn  of  the  new  year  until  it  has  run  its  course  there  are  few 
days  in  which  his  garden  does  not  present  something  to  interest  by 
Its  beauty  of  flower  or  leaf.  Yet  it  is  affectation  to  deny  that 
there  are  seasons  in  which  his  garden  is  eclipsed  in  brilliance  by 
those  in  which  shorter  lived  or  less  hardy  flowers  are  grown.  So 
is  it  now,  for  those  who  take  a  pride  in  their  bedding  plants,  their 
Dahlias,  their  Begonias,  or  the  other  plants  which  for  too  brief  a 
space  give  brightness  to  the  garden,  are  reaping  the  results  of  their 
labour  and  their  care.  We  need  not  despise  or  unduly  disparage 
their  favourites — nay,  where  space  is  available  we  may  profitably 
grow  with  onr  own  more  cherished  favourites  some  of  the  best  of 
the  flowers  of  their  choice.  If  the  cares  and  jo^s  of  a  large  collec¬ 
tion  of  the  hardier  flowers  monopoli  e  our  own  attention,  we  can 
surely  look  with  appreciation  upon  the  more  tender  flowers.  We 
can  walk  with  delight  in  a  place  where,  as  Elliott  says, 
‘‘  The  garden  glows  with  Dahlias  large  and  new.” 
We  can  revel  in  appreciation  of  the  many  stately  and  beautiful 
Gladioli  ;  we  can  look  admiringly  upon  these  Begonias  or  Z  mal 
Pelargoniums  which  with  so  many  other  flowers  have  a  tale  to 
tell — a  tale  of  Nature’s  lavish  gifts  of  beauty,  and  of  the  gardener’s 
skill  in  turning  to  man’s  service  her  beautiful  creations.  It  is  not 
for  me  to  tell  of  these  flowers  in  detail,  to  others  that  pleasant 
