. Botany all the year round; a practical text-book for schools. Botany. 230 THE FLOWER 4S3. yucca angusti- foUa pierced by the Pronuba yuccasella. clover and the bumblebee was brought to Hght a few years ago when the plant was first introduced into Aus- tralia. It grew luxuriantly and blossomed profusely, but would never set seed till the bumblebee was introduced to keep it com- pany. The most remarkable of these partnerships, perhaps, yet observed by naturalists, is that which exists between the little pronuba, or yucca moth, and the flowering yuccas, of which the bear's grass and Spanish bay
. Botany all the year round; a practical text-book for schools. Botany. 230 THE FLOWER 4S3. yucca angusti- foUa pierced by the Pronuba yuccasella. clover and the bumblebee was brought to Hght a few years ago when the plant was first introduced into Aus- tralia. It grew luxuriantly and blossomed profusely, but would never set seed till the bumblebee was introduced to keep it com- pany. The most remarkable of these partnerships, perhaps, yet observed by naturalists, is that which exists between the little pronuba, or yucca moth, and the flowering yuccas, of which the bear's grass and Spanish bay- Podof onet of our old fields and roadsides are familiar ex- amples. If any of these plants grow in your neigh- borhood, examine the pods and observe that none of them are perfect, but all . . 454. — Moth resting on yucca blossom. show a constriction at or near the middle, such as is sometimes seen in the sides of wormy plums and pears. This is caused by the larvae of the moth, which feed upon the unripe seeds. If you will look under the nodding perianth of a yucca blossom (Fig. 454), you will see that the short sta- mens are curved back from the pistil in such a manner that under ordinary circum- stances, not a grain of the pollen can fall upon it except by the rarest accident. But the yucca moth is a good farmer as well as a provident mother, and as soon as she has deposited her eggs in the seed vessel, takes care to provide a crop of food for her offspring by gathering a ball of pollen in her antennae and deliberately plastering it over the stigma (Fig. 455). In this way she insures the perfecting of the. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Andrews, Eliza Frances, b. 1840. New York, Cincinnati [etc. ] American book company
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbotany, bookyear1903
