Marriage Among the Clovers ( Originally Published Early 1900's )
PLANTS marry and give in marriage just as truly as animals. They
have their loves and their hatreds, their friendships and their
enmities. The marriage customs of many among them are vastly
interesting; and yet, in spite of all the attention that has
been given to the subject of recent years, comparatively few
people are even now aware how quaintly they pair, how varied and
curious are their matrimonial arrangements. Most of us, it is
true, have heard by this time the bare facts of the case—that
flowers are mainly fertilized by the visits of insects ; many of
us even know that in the majority of instances the little golden
dust which we call pollen must be transferred from the hanging
bags on one blossom to the sensitive surface of an-other, or
else seed will never be set; but not all of us are aware how
intricate and how numerous are the minor devices by which each
kind of plant effects this important object in its own fashion.
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