. The life of the plant. Plant physiology. 242 THE LIFE OF THE PLANT visit flowers ; the bright colouring, the size and the perfume of flowers serve as means for attracting them. It has been proved that bees possess the faculty for distinguishing between colours. By smearing with honey differently coloured surfaces, we can train insects to associ- ate the impression of a certain colour with the presence of honey. Cross-fertilisation takes place as a result of a division of sexes in the flowers themselves ; the staminate and pistillate flowers may be distributed either on one and the same plant
. The life of the plant. Plant physiology. 242 THE LIFE OF THE PLANT visit flowers ; the bright colouring, the size and the perfume of flowers serve as means for attracting them. It has been proved that bees possess the faculty for distinguishing between colours. By smearing with honey differently coloured surfaces, we can train insects to associ- ate the impression of a certain colour with the presence of honey. Cross-fertilisation takes place as a result of a division of sexes in the flowers themselves ; the staminate and pistillate flowers may be distributed either on one and the same plant or on diff^erent plants : while in hermaphrodite flowers cross-fertilisation is achieved by the ripening of stamens and pistils at different times, whereby self-fertilisation becomes impossible. But most convincing of all are the numerous facts which show all the parts of the flower to be adapted in structure and disposition to the form and habits of the visiting insect, so that in flying from one flower to another the insect is bound to touch the stamen of one flower, and then with the same part of its body the stigma of an- other. Let us limit ourselves to a few illustrations. There are many flowers the parts of which, instead of being arranged in the usual regular way round the centre, are distributed in such a way that right and left sides, top and bottom can be dis- Labiate flowers may serve as an example Such a form is obviously very convenient. Fig. 69. tinguished. (fig. 69, 2). 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 Timiri?a?zev, K. A. (Kliment Arkad?evich), 1843-1920; Sheremeteva, Anna, tr. London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta, Longmans, Green, and Co.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectplantph, bookyear1912
