. Elements of botany. Plants. 166 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 205. Protection of Pollen from Unwelcome Visitors.—It is usually desirable for the flower to prevent the entrance of small creeping insects, such as ants, which carry little pollen and eat a relatively large amount of it. The means adopted to secure this result are many and curious. In some plants, as the com- mon catchfly, there is a sticky ring about the peduncle, some distance below the flowers, and this forms an effectual bar- rier against ants and like insects. Very frequently the calyx-tube is covered with hairs, which are sometimes s
. Elements of botany. Plants. 166 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 205. Protection of Pollen from Unwelcome Visitors.—It is usually desirable for the flower to prevent the entrance of small creeping insects, such as ants, which carry little pollen and eat a relatively large amount of it. The means adopted to secure this result are many and curious. In some plants, as the com- mon catchfly, there is a sticky ring about the peduncle, some distance below the flowers, and this forms an effectual bar- rier against ants and like insects. Very frequently the calyx-tube is covered with hairs, which are sometimes sticky, as in Fig. 148, I, II, and VII. How these thickets of hairs may appear to a very small insect can per- haps be more easily real- ized by looking at the considerably magnified view of the hairs from the outer surface of mullein petals, shown in Fig. Sometimes the recurved petals or divisions of the corolla stand in the way of creeping insects, as in III and VII. In other cases the throat of the corolla is much narrowed, as in V, or closed. Flowers protected from Unwelcome Visitors. I, enchanter's nightshade, magnified five times; II, gooseberry, natural size; III, tellima, magnified two times ; IV, speedwell, magni- fied four times ; V, bearberry, magnified six times; VI, hound's-tongue, magnified four times ; VII, nodding campion, natural size, at midnight. * On protection of pollen see Kerner and Oliver, vol. II, pp. 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 Bergen, Joseph Y. (Joseph Young), 1851-1917; Bergen, Joseph Y. (Joseph Young), 1851-1917. Bergen's Botany: key and flora, Pacific coast ed. Boston : Ginn
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectplants, bookyear1896
