Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect VisitorsBlanchan, Neltje
Science
Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect Visitors
Blanchan, Neltje
Wild flowers -- North America
"Calopogon," says Professor Robertson, who knows more about the
fertilization of American wild flowers by insects than most
writers, "is one of a few flowers which move the insect toward
the stigma.... There is no expenditure in keeping up a supply of
nectar, and the flower, although requiring a smooth insect of a
certain size and weight, suffers nothing from the visits of those
it cannot utilize. Then, there is no delay caused by the insect
waiting to suck; but as soon as it alights it is thrown down
against the stigma. This occurs so quickly that, while standing
net in hand, I have seen insects effect pollination and escape
before I could catch them. So many orchids fasten their pollinia
upon the faces and tongues of insects that it is interesting to
find one which applies them regularly to the first abdominal
segment. Mr. Darwin has observed that absence of hair on the
tongues of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and on the faces
of Hymenoptera (bees; wasps, etc.) has led to the more usual
adaptations, and sparseness of hair has its influence in this
case. Species of Augochlora are the only insects on which I found
pollinia. These bees are very smooth, depending for ornament on
the metallic sheen of their bodies. An Halictus repeatedly pulled
down the labella (lips) of flowers from which pollinia had not
been removed; and the only reason I can assign for its failure to
extract pollinia is that it is more hairy than the Augochlora.
COMMON PERSICARIA, PINK KNOTWEED, or JOINT-WEED; SMARTWEED
(Polygonum Pennsylvanicum) Buckwheat family
Flowers - Very small, pink, collected in terminal, dense, narrow,
obtuse spikes, 1 to 2 in. long. Calyx pink or greenish, 5-parted,
like petals; no corolla; stamens 8 or less; style 2-parted. Stem:
1 to 3 ft. high, simple or branched, often partly red, the joints
swollen and sheathed; the branches above, and peduncles
glandular. Leaves: Oblong, lance-shaped, entire edged, 2 to 11
in. long, with stout midrib, sharply tapering at tip, rounded
into short petioles below.
Preferred Habitat - Waste places, roadsides, moist soil.
Flowering Season - July-October.
Distribution - Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico; westward to
Texas and Minnesota.
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