The flower and the bee; plant life and pollination . ositce, towhich 40 to 60 per cent of their visits are made, or 3 to 6 timesas many visits as are made to butterfly or bee flowers. Everyone has observed a cloud of butterflies hovering over a clumpof purple thistle-heads, or the yellow flowers of the elecampane{Inula Helenium), or the dull-white clusters of the thorough-wort. The male butterflies, which are often pleasantly scented,pursue the females from flower to flower without any regularorder. Butterflies often rob flowers of their nectar without render-ing any service in return. Both ho
The flower and the bee; plant life and pollination . ositce, towhich 40 to 60 per cent of their visits are made, or 3 to 6 timesas many visits as are made to butterfly or bee flowers. Everyone has observed a cloud of butterflies hovering over a clumpof purple thistle-heads, or the yellow flowers of the elecampane{Inula Helenium), or the dull-white clusters of the thorough-wort. The male butterflies, which are often pleasantly scented,pursue the females from flower to flower without any regularorder. Butterflies often rob flowers of their nectar without render-ing any service in return. Both honey-bees and butterfliessteal thousands of pounds of alfalfa nectar annually through acrevice in the side of the flower. Many other leguminousflowers are robbed in the same way, but in many species thepetals close up so firmly that access to the nectar can be gainedonly in the normal way. While butterflies cannot pollinatethe flowers of the blue flag {Irh versicolor), they often standon the upper or under side and, inserting their tongues side- 132. Fig. 62. Orange-Red Butterfly. Argynnis aphroditeThe butterfly which pollinates the orange-red lily THE FLOWER AND THE BEE ways between the sepals and petaloid styles, suck the , it may easily happen in the case of some irregularflowers, as the larkspur, that butterflies may visit them nor-mally and obtain the nectar, and yet not touch either theanthers or stigmas with their slender tongue. Butterfly-flowers, as has been previously pointed out, arecommonly red-colored. Among the Alpine butterfly-flowerswhich have red corollas are Orchis globosa, Lilium bulbiferum,the heath Erica carnea; the pinks, Dianthus superhus, D. sylves-tris, D. atroruher; Daphne striata, and Primula acaule, and severalother primroses. Other red butterfly-flowers are species ofSilene, Lychnis, Asclepias, and Monarda. It is certainly notpurely accidental, says Mueller, that most of the butterfliesof the Alps, the commonest floral guests in that reg
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