File:The flower and the bee; plant life and pollination (1918) (14592567770).jpg

Identifier: flowerbeeplant00love (find matches)
Title: The flower and the bee; plant life and pollination
Year: 1918 (1910s)
Authors: Lovell, John Harvey, 1860-1939
Subjects: Fertilization of plants
Publisher: New York, C. Scribner's sons
Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden
Digitizing Sponsor: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden

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esthrough which the rain easily escapes. If the perianth formeda cup, like that of the bee-lily, it would fill with water; and, ifit were inverted, it could not be conveniently visited by butter-flies. I never fail to watch with pleasure the manoeuvres ofbutterflies to obtain the nectar of this wild lily. The narrowclaw of each perianth segment has its edges turned inward toform a groove, which guides the proboscis of the butterfly tothe nectar-gland at its base. The only visitor I have observedis the common, yellowish-red butterfly Argynnis aphrodite.(Fig. 62.) Alighting on the broad limb of the flower, it runsits tongue down one of the grooves to the nectar, while at thesame time its wings come in contact with the anthers and 130 BUTTERFLY-FLOWERS stigma. The anthers are covered all around with pollen andare versatile, that is, they are attached by a middle point andwhen touched oscillate easily up and down like the walking-beam of an engine. In the bee-lily the anthers are fixed in
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Fig. 61. Canada Lily. Lilium canadenseA bee-lily one position. A third species of lily (Z. Martagon) is adaptedto hawk-moths. Lepidopterid, or butterfly and moth flowers, are not numer-ous, and in the whole Alpine flora Mueller found but 33.Besides the pinks and Hlies already mentioned, several red-flowered species of Phlox (Fig. 63), a crimson heath (Erica 131 THE FLOWER AND THE BEE carnea), and 5 or 6 red-flowered primroses are pollinated bybutterflies. Many lepidopterid flowers occur among theorchids, and in the genus Habenaria the beautiful, purple-fringed orchis is a butterfly-flower (Fig. 64), while the greenishor white species are pollinated by crepuscular or nocturnalmoths. In some instances I have found the grayish hairs ofmoths adhering to glutinous surfaces. Butterflies do not confine their visits to butterfly-flowersalone, but may visit any flower. They experience, however,more or less difficulty in sucking nectar on flat surfaces andconsequently prefer tubular flowers wit

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