Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, September 1899: Vol. LV, May to October, 1899Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, September 1899: Vol. LV, May to October, 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Red flowers are much rarer than blue, and both are seldom common in
the same family. For instance, in the pink family red and white
blossoms prevail, and there are no blue shades. The pinks are crimson
and scarlet, often with elegant markings and a strong aromatic odor.
The honey is deeply concealed, and they are visited almost exclusively
by butterflies and millers. Twenty-eight species of diurnal
_Lepidoptera_ have been collected upon a single variety of
_Saponaria_. Of the eighty species of _Rosaceæ_, thirteen are red and
two purple, but the forty-four white flowers are very generally tinged
or tipped with red. The two purplish-flowered species, _Geum rivale_
and _Potentilla palustris_, belong to genera in which yellow
predominates, and this primitive color is still evident in both their
calyx and corolla. There are no blue or violet flowers. This family
exhibits a marked tendency both in stem, leaf, bud, flower, and fruit
to develop reddish coloration, a tendency which is probably due to the
chemical constitution of the sap. There are no flowers in this family
adapted to _Lepidoptera_, but they are visited by a mixed company of
flies, beetles, and _Hymenoptera_. The smaller and less specialized
_Rosaceæ_ are yellow and white and are visited by a variety of
short-lipped insects. With the increase of the flower in size and
conspicuousness the number of insect visitors greatly increases, and
the enlargement of the flower is attended by red coloration. Owing to
the chemical constitution of the nutritive fluid, probably to its
acidity (for when the petals of a rose are treated with ammonia they
become blue), there has been no opportunity for the development of
blue coloration by insects. With the enlargement of the perianth and
the increased flow of sap, red tints have tended to appear by process
of oxidation.
The correlation of red coloring with an increased flow of sap is well
illustrated by the galls of the wild-rose tree, which are often "as
rosy as the rosiest apple." An abnormal flow of sap is caused to the
part stung by the insect, and red coloration is due to the action of
light, for it is of no service to the plant. Again, when the flowers
of _Cratægus coccinea_ are stung by the gall-fly the different organs
all become bright red, and the change in coloring is accompanied by an
increase in size. In some instances red colors, according to Darwin,
indicate greater vigor on the part of the plant, and I have also
observed that the dwarfing of red flowers under cultivation may cause
them to revert to white.
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