Plant World; Its Past, Present & Future; An Introd. to the Study of Botany
The book Plant World; Its Past, Present & Future; An Introd. to the Study of Botany was written by author George Massee Here you can read free online of Plant World; Its Past, Present & Future; An Introd. to the Study of Botany book, rate and share your impressions in comments. If you don't know what to write, just answer the question: Why is Plant World; Its Past, Present & Future; An Introd. to the Study of Botany a good or bad book?
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make the best of whatever set of surroundings they may encounter, the result being that there are at least ten thousand known species, or about one-tenth of all known flowering plants scattered over the surface of the globe. It has been stated that ants and minute insects are as a rule useless in effecting the cross-fertilization of flowers, except in the case of some of the less differen- tiated open kinds; and in the more highly evolved types very varied arrangements are present for the purpo...se of preventing such creeping insects from reaching the in- florescence. Amongst such contrivances may be noted the presence of a viscid substance on the stem, or the presence of numerous hairs pointing downwards and becoming longer and more numerous in the region of the flowers, as in the cow-parsnip (Heracleum spliondy- lium). In the wild teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris), the opposite pairs of leaves are adherent to each other by their margins for some distance, forming a receptacle capable of holding a considerable quantity of water that surrounds the stem just above the origin of the leaves, and any insect creeping up the stem as far as the first pair of leaves is confronted with this miniature pool, which must be crossed before the stem can again be reached ; and as there are usually from six to eight pairs of leaves, each with its pool of water, it can be under- stood that insects incapable of flight, and at the same time not possessed of natatory powers, rarely reach the inflorescence at the top of the stem.
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