Part 10

Soon there were no more white flowers to be seen; they had stopped growing, and only the pink ones kept on, so we shall have to call these pink flowers Quintus.

But a great danger threatened Quintus. Cows and goats and sheep bit off their leaves. They ate so much of them that many plants were killed outright. Only the stiffest and hardest were left to blossom and set seed. The seeds of these plants with the stiff leaves and stems grew into other stiff-stemmed and stiff-leaved plants. The cattle browsed the tenderest of these and again left the stiffest. This went on for many years, the plants growing stiffer and harder each year. Some of them got so stiff and hard that they threw out prickles all over their stems.

These prickly ones were not eaten, and in time you would have found them grown into woody bushes with prickly stems.

We shall have to call these Sextus.

Sextus spread all over the sandy plains. Hardly any other plant was to be seen. The strong Sextus seeds sprouted and took the materials in the earth and the air, and the other seeds that happened to be blown among them did not grow; they changed into gases and minerals and other substances and helped the Sextus plants to grow.

One day some Sextus seeds blew upon good, rich, damp soil, and there they sprouted and grew. They had plenty of water, and there were no cattle to disturb them; so those with the fewest prickles were the best off, because they could use the food material to make larger flowers instead of prickles. So the plants with fewer prickles had larger flowers and better seeds, and these seeds sprouted and grew, and the others gave way before them. In the course of time these plants growing on the rich soil lost their prickles, and their flowers were large and very deep pink; in fact, some of them were a bright red.

These bright red flowers attracted the bees, and so they lived on and set seed. These we must call Septimus.

For some reason some of the seeds of the Septimus flowers developed unusually thrifty plants.

These plants had flowers with petals so full of sap they overlapped, and finally, just because they were so full of the growing spirit, the edges of the petals grew together.

Finally, the flowers with the edges grown together were the most successful. The tube their flowers made kept the nectar for the bees, and the bees liked to go into these red bells. You see what had happened: the flowers were no longer polypetalous. Their petals had grown together; they were gamopetalous. Their corollas formed snug tubes, something like a morning-glory corolla, for the bees.

We shall have to call these people Octamus.

And we will not follow them any farther, only be sure they kept on changing ever and ever. Whenever the seeds fell in a new soil, they had to change or die. The reason they could change so is because no two things are ever just alike, and out of a great many plants some might be fitted to survive in the new surroundings. These would live, and their descendants would be like them, but they would be different from their ancestors.

In some such way, no doubt, the many different kinds of flowers have come into existence.

If you ask me for the exact name of our plant that has changed so many times, I cannot tell you, for I do not know.

But that, we believe, is Mother Nature’s way of making new flowers.

TONGUES AND TUBES.

A flower tube is a most convenient and safe place to keep stamens and nectar. If it is protected by scales or hairs or a sticky juice, as is often the case, the ants and other small insects are given a gentle but convincing hint to keep out. They might readily infer their presence is not wanted, and though it may hurt their feelings a little, they have nothing to do but obey.

Some flowers like ants and little crawling insects, but they have open, spreading corollas with the nectars easily reached; but you may be sure a flower with a tube is no friend to them.

Its tube says “keep out” as plainly as though it had put out a printed sign, and then a tube is a sign anybody in the insect world can read, no matter what language he may speak or whether he knows his letters.

But tubes are not intended to keep _all_ visitors away,—far from it.

They are as much an invitation to one kind of insect as they are a request to “keep off these premises” to another. If you happen to be a large insect with a long tongue, you will be sure to find a welcome in many a flower with a tube. And no doubt, if you are fond of honey and are industrious about collecting it, you will find that the flower whose nectar you like the very best and which you visit the oftenest has a tube just the same shape and size as your tongue; and what is more, it will be in the most convenient position for you to reach it.

It seems to be _your_ flower, and no doubt it is, for flowers have a way of making their tubes to fit the tongues of those who love them best. Not that they do _all_ the fitting, for no doubt the tongues also grow to fit the flowers.

Of course other insects with similar tongues can get the honey too, and a good many, whose tongues are quite different, can reach more or less of it; but the bulk of the honey is for the favorite visitor. He can reach clear to the bottom of the nectary, and in some cases, where the favorite insect has a very long and very slender tongue, the spur, or tube, will be so long and slender that none but that particular kind of insect can get the honey at all.

Everybody who lives in New England, and a good many who do not, knows the white azalea, often called swamp honeysuckle.

Swamp honeysuckle and the large night-flying moths are great friends. The azalea has provided honey for the fellows, and protects it, too, against other visitors, all but the bees and humming birds. The humming birds are welcome, and the bees have a way of coming whether they are welcome or not.

If you go just at dark to where the azaleas are blooming, you will not see the moths, but you will hear them. The chief sounds in the woods are the rustling of twigs and leaves in the breeze, the calling of frogs from the ponds, the noises of the insects, and the voices of the night-flying birds. Then all at once there comes another sound,—a steady buzz-z-z that draws nearer and nearer until it seems to be close to your ear. This is the moth come to visit the honeysuckle. And, no doubt, the honeysuckle is glad to feel the breeze of these fanning wings and feel the long tongue enter the tube, for the moth’s body touches the out-reaching stigma and leaves there pollen from some other flower whose honey it has enjoyed. From the stamens it detaches pollen grains to carry to another flower; and this, too, no doubt, gives happiness to the azalea, for it makes its pollen, not for its own use, but for the sake of its azalea friends.

You see, the azalea has long, upturned filaments that reach far out of the tube, and the style is yet longer, so that only a large insect or a humming bird, collecting honey while on the wing, can really give pollen to the stigma.

Bees alight back of the anthers and take the honey. If they want pollen they collect it from the stamens without touching the stigma, except once in a while by accident, as it were. So however much the majority of flowers may love and respect the bee, our azalea has no liking for her. Besides, the bee has a bad habit of biting a hole in the flower tube and getting the honey that way. This would be a thoroughly disreputable performance on the part of any insect, and if bees are not ashamed of it they ought to be.

The azalea does several things for the moth it loves. It may be its beautiful white color is for his sake; anyway, if the flower were not white the moth would not be likely to find it, since he flies abroad after the birds have gone to rest,—that is, in the evening, when it is dark in the damp thickets where the honeysuckle loves to grow. Azalea has a sweet white corolla with a long, slender tube containing nectar that moth or humming bird can reach, but which bees cannot reach. Watch a bee try some time. If the flower is between you and the light, you can see the bee’s brown tongue through the flower tube; she appears to be standing on her toes and reaching in as far as she can; she darts out her tongue to its full length, and you can see it wriggling and straining to get to the abundant honey low down in the flower tube. But there is no use trying; the tongue is too short and the tube too long. The honeysuckle tube was not made to fit the bee’s tongue, and the bee can get only the outer rim of the honey. Perhaps this is why the bee so often breaks in the back way.

Besides being white, the azalea flowers grow in clusters, which makes them yet more visible in the dusk. They exhale a delicious and far-reaching perfume too, and this is a note of invitation to the moths.

Instead of writing a note on a sheet of perfumed paper, the honeysuckle simply sends the perfume without the paper, and the moth understands the message and knows the white azalea “requests the pleasure” of his company that evening, and he puts on his best manners, since he cannot change his clothes, and goes.

The white azalea is so _very_ sweet and so pretty, it would not be strange if other uninvited guests than bees were to visit it. No doubt, the ants and bugs and gnats and flies would be glad to, but the azalea has a very inhospitable way of receiving such would-be guests. All over the outside of the lower part of the white tube and running in a line to the very tips of the petals are tiny white hairs with black tips.

These are azalea’s body guard. Each tip exudes a drop of sticky liquid.

Fine, sticky hairs cover the stems and the leaves too; so the unfortunate insect that tries to crawl up to the flower is sure to get wings and legs hopelessly entangled and stuck together.

Only large fellows, like bees, who are strong enough to pull themselves free and clean off their legs, are able to defy this body guard. You will sometimes meet our sweet azalea covered on the outside with little marauders who wanted to steal her honey but could not, because the body guard caught them and stuck them fast.

Not all flowers with tubes have succeeded as well as azalea in keeping their honey for the visitors who can do them the most good. Yet many have tried.

Look at the morning-glory, for instance; it has hairs at the entrance to the nectaries which the ants cannot readily pass, but which the bees can push aside. The openings to the nectary are large enough readily to admit the tongue of a bee, and the distance into the nectar is about the length of a bee’s tongue; but there are no sticky guards to preserve the honey, for the bees and small beetles and other tiny insects often crawl into the tube and eat the honey and even devour the flower itself.

Tropæolum has a fine large tube full of rich honey for bees and humming birds. This tube no doubt corresponds to some tongue or bird-bill in her own South America. But in our country the bees answer very well. The bumblebee is fond of Tropæolum honey and fertilizes the flower, while an occasional ruby throat may be seen taking a sip.

Jewelweed’s horn is a humming bird tube and a bee tube, too. The flowers are so delicately balanced on tiny stalks that wingless insects would not find an easy entrance.

Pelargonium, too, has a tube suited to some long and slim-tongued visitor. In her own native land in far-away Africa she probably loves the butterflies that live there, who also love her, and so they have grown tongue and tube to fit each other. For the flower is not the only one to change: the insect changes to suit the flower at the same time that the flower changes to suit the insect. They grow to fit each other.

Wherever you see a flower tube you may be sure there is somewhere a tongue to fit it.

GLOSSARY.

L. = Latin. A.-S. = Anglo-Saxon.

A.

=Acheloüs=, _n._ A river god with whom Hercules wrestled. Like Proteus, Acheloüs could change his shape; he became a serpent and a bull, but Hercules vanquished him nevertheless and tore off his horn, which became the horn of plenty.

=Alternate=, _a._ L. _alter_, another; one following another. Said of leaves standing singly at the nodes of a stem; also of stamens that stand between the petals, and of petals that are placed between the sepals.

=Amalthea=, _n._ In Greek mythology, the nurse of Jupiter, probably a goat.

=Amœba=, _n._ From a Greek word meaning “change”; the name of one of the lowest forms of life; a bit of living protoplasm capable of existing as a single cell and of changing its form at will.

=Ancestors=, _n._ L. _antecessor_, a foregoer; forefathers; those from whom animals or plants are descended.

=Animal cells=, _n._ The cells or minute divisions which make up the animal body.

=Animals=, _n._ All living things which are not plants are animals. In the lower forms of life it is impossible to decide whether certain living things are animals or plants.

=Anther=, _n._ From a Greek word meaning “flower”; that part of the stamen containing the pollen.

=Anther cells=, _n._ The hollow spaces in the anther where the pollen is kept.

=Aristocrat=, _n._ From two Greek words meaning “best” and “rule”; one belonging to the best in a community; one among those fit to rule.

=Aristocratic=, _a._ Like an aristocrat.

=Axil=, _n._ L. _axilla_, little armpit; the angle formed between the upper side of a leaf and the stem or branch to which it is attached.

=Azalea=, _n._ The name of a plant. The “swamp honeysuckle” is not a honeysuckle, but is an azalea.

B.

=Barb=, _n._ L. _barba_, a beard; a tuft of hairs; a sharp point projecting backward from the point of a fish hook or arrow or any other sharp-pointed instrument. The barb prevents the instrument from being readily withdrawn.

=Bark=, _n._ The outer covering of the stems and roots of woody plants.

=Beak=, _n._ The bill of a bird; the long, projecting point in the fruit of the geraniums.

=Bloodroot=, _n._ An early spring flower. A pretty, delicate, white flower opens on a stem that comes up from the ground, and the roots, when wounded, yield a blood-red sap.

=Boer=, _n._ D. _boer_, a farmer; a peasant; the name of the Dutch colonists of South Africa. They are principally farmers and cattle raisers. They have had many difficulties with the English settlers, in some of which blood has been shed.

=Bract=, _n._ L. _bractea_, a thin plate of metal; gold-leaf. Used of small, usually thin, leaf-like parts, and often found near a flower or flower cluster.

=Bulb=, _n._ L. _bulbus_, a bulbous root; an onion; the name of the underground, scale-covered part of hyacinths, etc.

C.

=Cactus=, _n._ From a Greek word meaning “a prickly plant”; a group of plants which usually grow in dry places and have prickles or thorns instead of leaves. The prickly pear grows wild in northern latitudes, and others, such as the night-blooming cereus, are often seen in hothouses.

=Callous=, _a._ L. _callosus_, hard-skinned, thickened and hardened. Applied to a hard place on the skin, usually the result of friction.

=Calyx=, _n._ From a Greek word meaning “to cover”; the outer set of envelopes which form the perianth of a flower. If the perianth has but one set of envelopes it is called the calyx.

=Capillary attraction=, _n._ The force which causes liquids to disperse through fabrics or tissues. If one end of a towel be placed in a bowl of water, the whole towel will be wet in course of time.

=Carbon=, _n._ L. _carbo_, a coal; a substance very widely distributed and existing under various forms. Coal is one form of carbon, graphite another, the diamond a third. One atom of carbon combined with two of oxygen form carbon dioxide.

=Carbon dioxide=, _n._ A heavy gas, found as an impurity in the air. It is breathed out by animals and plants, and absorbed and used as a food by plants.

=Castor oil=, _n._ The oil obtained from the seeds of the castor-oil plant. Used as a medicine and also in dyeing cotton certain colors.

=Cell=, _n._ L. _cella_, a small room; a case or cup in which something is held, as anther cell, ovary cell, honeycomb cell; also the protoplasmic particles of which plants and animals are built up.

=Candelabrum=, _n._ L. _candela_, a candle; a candle stick; any branched candlestick. A candelabrum rests on a post, while a chandelier is suspended. Candelabra is the plural.

=Chasm=, _n._ From a Greek word meaning “a yawning hollow”; a wide, deep cleft.

=Chlorophyll=, _n._ From two Greek words meaning “light green” and “leaf,” leaf-green; the green coloring matter of vegetation.

=Columbine=, _n._ L. _columba_, a dove; a flowering plant which gets its name from the fancied resemblance of its petals and sepals to the heads of doves round a dish.

=Complexity=, _n._ L. _com_, together, _plectere_, to weave; formed by a combination of simple things.

=Convolvulaceæ=, _n._ The name of a family of plants to which belong the morning-glory and bindweed.

=Cornucopia=, _n._ L. _cornu_, horn, _copia_, plenty; horn of plenty.

=Corolla=, _n._ L. _corolla_, a little crown; a garland; the floral envelope within the calyx, very often bright colored.

=Cotton-seed oil=, _n._ An oil expressed from the seeds of the cotton plant and, when purified, used instead of olive oil.

=Crete=, _n._ An island to the south of Greece.

=Crocus=, _n._ An early spring flower.

=Cross-fertilization=, _n._ The fertilization of the ovules of one flower by the pollen of another.

=Cross-fertilized=, _a._ Fertilized by the pollen from another plant.

D.

=Dew=, _n._ The moisture of the air when condensed on any cold surface. Dew does not _fall_; it is formed wherever moisture in the air comes in contact with a substance colder than the air. Hence there may be dew on the under as well as the upper side of a leaf.

=Dissolve=, _v._ L. _dis_, apart, _solvere_, loose; to separate the solid particles of a body in a liquid; to melt. Sugar dissolves in water.

=Double flowers=, _n._ All those whose petals are numerous. Sometimes the stamens are changed into petals, as in double roses, and sometimes even the pistils have become petals.

E.

=Evaporation=, _n._ The conversion of a solid or liquid by heat into vapor. Most often used in reference to the conversion of water into vapor. The warm air of summer causes a rapid evaporation of water from the leaves of plants.

F.

=Fayal=, _n._ One of the Azores Islands, west of Portugal.

=Ferns=, _n._ A division of flowerless plants.

=Fertilize=, _v._ L. _fertilis_, fruitful; to make fruitful or productive, in the flower, by introducing the pollen to the ovule, enabling them in union to become a seed.

=Filament=, _n._ L. _filum_, a thread; the stem of an anther, often thread-like in form, though it varies greatly; any thread-like part.

=Flower=, _n._ L. _flos_, a flower; the part of a plant consisting of pistil, stamens, corolla, and calyx. Sometimes the corolla is wanting; sometimes both calyx and corolla are wanting. Since pistils and stamens are the most important part of the flower, an organ containing them only is called a flower. Sometimes a flower consists of only stamens or only pistils, as in some kinds of maple.

=Force pump=, _n._ A pump in which a liquid is moved by pressure behind instead of being lifted, as is the case in the ordinary pump.

=Fossil=, _n._ Animal or vegetable forms which have been long buried in the earth and so preserved; the _forms_ or traces of animal or vegetable structures which have been preserved in rock.

=Fruit=, _n._ The matured ovary and all it contains or is incorporated with. Sometimes the calyx forms part of the fruit, as in the apple.

G.

=Gamopetalous=, _a._ From two Greek words meaning “marriage” and “leaf” or “petal”; having the petals united or grown together. Where a flower has the corolla in the form of a tube it is called gamopetalous. Several petals are believed to be united into one piece.

=Geranium=, _n._ From a Greek word meaning “crane’s bill”; the name of a plant, so called because of the long, projecting beak of the seed-vessel.

=Gland=, _n._ Certain cells upon or near the surface of a plant that secrete, or take from the sap, certain substances. The nectary is a gland that secretes a sweet juice.

=Great pyramids of Egypt=, _n._ Three large pyramids at Ghizeh, near Cairo, in Egypt. The largest one is the largest work of man’s hands in the world. The pyramids are very interesting structures, and are probably the tombs of the ancient rulers of Egypt.

=Guard cells=, _n._ The curved cells that guard the entrance to the stomata, or breathing pores, of leaves.

H.

=Hairs=, _n._ Fine, thread-like outgrowths from the skin of plants or animals.

=Halberd-shaped=, _a._ Shaped like a halberd, or old-time battle-ax. The bases of certain leaves are called halberd-shaped from their form.

=Hawthorne=, _n._ A small tree with thorny stems. The fruit consists of small bright red berries called “haws.”

=Heart=, _n._ The principal organ for the circulation of the blood in man and other animals.

=Hercules=, _n._ In Greek and Roman mythology, a mighty hero, the god of strength and courage. He performed many feats of strength, chief among which are those known as the twelve labors of Hercules.

=Honeycomb cells=, _n._ The wax cells made by bees for storing the honey.

=Hyacinth=, _n._ The name of an early spring flower; also of a precious stone.

=Hydrogen=, _n._ From two Greek words meaning “water producing.” It is a very light, invisible gas, and when chemically united to oxygen, two parts of hydrogen to one of oxygen, the result is water.

I.

=Imbricated=, _a._ L. _imber_, rain, _imbrex_, a hollow roof tile to shed rain; _imbricare_, to cover with roof tiles; lying over one another, or lapping, like tiles on a roof. Applied to sepals that overlap over a bud.

=Included=, _a._ L. _in_, in, _claudere_, to shut, close; confined within something. Said of the stamens when they do not project beyond the mouth of the corolla.

=Inherit=, _v._ L. _in_, in, _heres_, heir; to take by descent from an ancestor. Plants, like people, inherit their characteristics from their parents.

=Iron=, _n._ A very abundant and very important metal. In small quantities it enters into the composition of plants and animals.

=Irritate=, _v._ L. _irritare_, to excite; to excite to action. Rubbing irritates the skin and causes extra blood to flow to the spot and thus redden it. Rubbing may also irritate plant tissues and cause an extra flow of sap to the part irritated.

J.

=Jack-in-the-Pulpit.= The name of a plant that blooms in early summer. The flowers have no corollas or calyxes, but grow clustered together on a long spike. The spike of flowers is surrounded by a large overarching bract.

=Juan Fernandez=, _n._ An island, west of Chili, in South America. It is said to be the island where Robinson Crusoe lived.

=Jupiter=, _n._ In Roman mythology, the chief of the gods. The eagle is his favorite bird, and he is often represented with a sheaf of thunderbolts in his hand.

K.

=Knead=, _v._ To press or squeeze until thoroughly mixed.

L.

=Levant=, _n._ The name given to a section of country east of Italy and bordering upon the Mediterranean Sea.

=Lime=, _n._ A substance found in the earth and forming the hard part of bones, and also found in the composition of plants.