Identifier: flowerbeeplant00love (find matches)
Title: The flower and the bee; plant life and pollination
Year: 1918 (1910s)
Authors: Lovell, John Harvey, 1860-1939
Subjects: Fertilization of plants
Publisher: New York, C. Scribner's sons
Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden
Digitizing Sponsor: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden

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d self-evident that conspicuousness is a manifest advantage. Ifinsects possess a well-developed sense of vision, bright colorscannot fail to be of benefit to them as well as to flowers by en-abling them easily to discover isolated blossoms and to econ-omize time by being faithful to single plant species. No argu-ment is needed to prove that such a correlation is desirable, 209 THE FLOWER AND THE BEE and that, if it is non-existent, its absence registers a failure onNatures part to make the most of an opportunity. According to the teachings of Sprengel, Darwin, and Mueller, ^^^^^^^1 ^^^B^^^^H K^ ^Sl ^^^^ta 3H; lE^^ ^^s \^^^^^^^^^^ ^Jl^H^^^H Fig. 101. Bean. Vicia Faha Color contrast, a black spot on the wings of the papilionaceouswhite corolla and most other flower-biologists, the bright hues of flowersserve as signals, or flags, to attract the attention of insectsliving on pollen and nectar. The more conspicuous a flower,or flower-cluster, the better are its chances of pollination. 210
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Fig. 102. Purple Coneflower. Echinacea angustifolia, aCoreopsis. Coreopsis tinctoria, h Color contrast, the disk flowers and the lower part of the rays are brown-purple, the upperpart of the rays yellow THE FLOWER AND THE BEE Many colors are better than one, since the flowers are renderedmore conspicuous by contrasts with each other as well as withfoliage, and insects are less liable to visit them indiscriminately.The various floral colors have been evolved by the selectiveagency of insects, especially bees, which are able easily to dis-tinguish between them, and in the absence of visitors flowerswould have remained green, or dull-colored, similar to wind-pollinated blossoms. In some instances Mueller believed thatthe visitors manifested a preference for certain colors, as honey-bees for blue, butterflies and humming-birds for red, hover-flies for yellow, and carrion-flies for lurid purple; but in thelight of more recent investigations it may be doubted whetherinsects receive more ple

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