Bot.' B.7 page 466), spontaneously self-fertilised flowers are by
no means sterile.
Adlumia cirrhosa (Fumariaceae).--Sets an abundance of capsules.
Hypecoum procumbens (Fumariaceae).--Hildebrand says (idem), with respect
to protected flowers, that "eine gute Fruchtbildung eintrete."
Fumaria officinalis (Fumariaceae).--Covered-up and unprotected plants
apparently produced an equal number of capsules, and the seeds of the
former seemed to the eye equally good. I have often watched this plant,
and so has Hildebrand, and we have never seen an insect visit the
flowers. Hermann Muller has likewise been struck with the rarity of the
visits of insects to it, though he has sometimes seen hive-bees at work.
The flowers may perhaps be visited by small moths, as is probably the
case with the following species.
Fumaria capreolata.--Several large beds of this plant growing wild were
watched by me during many days, but the flowers were never visited by
any insects, though a humble-bee was once seen closely to inspect them.
Nevertheless, as the nectary contains much nectar, especially in the
evening, I felt convinced that they were visited, probably by moths. The
petals do not naturally separate or open in the least; but they had been
opened by some means in a certain proportion of the flowers, in the same
manner as follows when a thick bristle is pushed into the nectary; so
that in this respect they resemble the flowers of Corydalis lutea.
Pages:
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522