"Cypripedium" Quotes from Famous Books
... or having eaten its fill, flies sooner or later to a female plant, and whilst standing in the same position as before, the pollen-bearing end of the arrow is inserted into the stigmatic cavity, and a mass of pollen is left on its viscid surface. The strange structures of Cypripedium, or the Lady's Slipper, were then analysed, and the mode of fertilisation by small bees was discovered. The whole structure of orchids, as modified to secure insects' visits and cross fertilisation, was now expounded, and the benefits ... — Life of Charles Darwin • G. T. (George Thomas) Bettany |