 |
| A little bit of sky On Mother Earth's kind breast, With smile of welcome shy, Rewards our eager quest. |
Is there one of you children who does not hail with delight the first Baby-Blue-Eyes you find in the Spring? Have you ever grown tired of this dainty flower? Even if you live next door to a whole field of Baby-Blue-Eyes, you will still love them. Their bright blue faces seem to be smiling up at us as sweetly as babies smile.
But if Baby-Blue-Eyes does remind us of a sweet little baby, she is not helpless. She is very well able to carry on her work. She is also very honest. She wishes to pay well any insect who helps her.
She waves her blue corolla above her leaves to invite Mrs. Bug to dinner. This lady is very glad to accept the invitation. She does not wait to send an answer. She hurries along herself, quite hungry for the feast. When she reaches Baby-Blue-Eyes, she finds several pleasant surprises.
Mrs. Baby-BluerEyes has not dyed all her corolla bright blue. Down near the center, she has kept it white. Lest the insects may not care for plain white, she has scattered dots of dark blue and black over the light places.
When Mrs. Bug comes near Baby-Blue-Eyes, her nose begins to tickle.
"Honey! Honey! Honey!" she hurries along, humming in time to her wing beats. "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"
Look and see what she will find. You see the corolla is shaped like a bell. There are five petals, fitting nicely together to make a circle. Now look inside the bell. Each petal has set out food generously‚ not one dish, but two. Think of that! Two dishes of honey to each petal. Now, do you not believe that Mrs. Baby-Blue-Eyes has a generous heart?
There are little honey paths leading to the dishes. If Mrs. Bug should happen to have a cold and cannot smell the honey, she could still find it by using her eyes.
Mrs. Baby-Blue-Eyes does not want the smallest bugs, who can creep in without touching her stamens, to seat themselves at her table. She is willing to set out a good meal, but she wishes fair payment for it. So, she has hung a screen of fine hairs over her honey bowls. Your parents put screens at your windows to keep out the flies, don't they? Just so, Mrs. Baby-Blue-Eyes hangs up screens in front of her honey to keep out the bugs she does not like. Larger bugs, who will help her, can easily bend the hairs aside and stick their tongues in between.
Mrs. Baby-Blue-Eyes has shaped her little brown anther like an arrow. She turns it out toward the petal, instead of in toward the center, as many flowers do their anthers. When Mrs. Bug alights on a petal, she starts down a honey path. She knocks against the foot of the stamen. Like a flash, the anther springs open and pours fine grey pollen over her. It is like when you flip the switch on the wall and your electric light flashes on. Just that quickly does an anther open when Mrs. Bug touches the foot of the stamen.
When Mrs. Bug has eaten all she wants in that Baby-Blue-Eyes, she goes to another. Here, as she goes in, her head is sure to brush against the stigmas. She leaves some pollen on them. They send the pollen down to the ovules and the seeds are started.
If no Bug comes to Baby-Blue-Eyes, after a while, she turns her anthers around, so that they face the center. Then, they open and the pollen falls on the stigmas in that same flower. Then seeds are made in the seed-case. Baby-Blue-Eyes likes better to have the pollen of one flower go to the ovules of another. It makes better seed. All plants like to have the pollen of one flower get to the ovules in another. That is why they invite the insects to help them.
Baby-Blue-Eyes feels sure that her plan of work is a good one to get the insect to help. So, she lifts up only five stamens. Remember how many stamens Buttercup and Poppy and Cream-Cup raise aloft. They could lose lots of pollen and still make seeds.
Sometimes, the wind carries away the pollen from a flower and it falls on the stigmas in another flower. Do you think it is sure to fall on the same kind of flower? Is it as sure as if Mrs. Bug carries it?
Baby-Blue-Eyes does not depend upon the wind. She sets out to please Mrs. Bug and she succeeds. Mrs. Bug finds her honey so delicious that she is sure to try the same kind of flower for another taste of it. Some days, you just like chocolate soda, don't you? No matter what kinds are offered you, you still choose chocolate. Some days you choose strawberry instead. Well, it is the same with Mrs. Bug. Some days, her fancy is set on Baby-Blue-Eyes honey and no Buttercup soda or any other flavor will satisfy her sweet tooth.
The Baby-Blue-Eyes seeds are healthy. You can plant them in your gardens and they will grow into good plants. Florists have sent the seeds all over the World. Do you know what a florist is? I thought you did. The seeds grow well in far off countries. They grow healthy and send out many flowers. Their flowers are pretty to the people there, but they would look a little faded to us. The corolla is not so bright a blue as our wild flowers wear. Baby-Blue-Eyes, to be really beautiful, needs to look up at the California sky.
Wander in fields of Baby-Blue-Eyes or
Nemophila with Mochi Mochi My
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your thoughts. All comments are moderated. Spam is not published. Have a good day!