Abstract
AMONG the accurate and acute observations of C. C. Sprengel towards the close of last century,* which have received but scant attention from his successors, even down to our own day, was one on the subject of the colouring of variegated flowers. This botanist, with an insight into the mutual relationships of animal and vegetable life far in advance of his age, suggests that this colouring may serve as a guide to insects in seeking for the honey which serves for their food, and the search for which is so powerful an agent in the conveyance of the pollen, and the consequent fertilisation of the flower. Sprengel pointed out that in almost all variegated flowers the variegation follows a regular pattern, and that when it consists of streaks or stripes, these streaks almost invariably point to the nectary, or the receptacle of the sweet secretions which form the food of insects, in whatever part of the flower it may be situated. With this idea as a starting point, an interesting line of inquiry may be carried out as to the connection between the presence of scent and the absence of variegation in flowers. It will be found as a general rule, though not without exceptions—and it would be very interesting to attempt to trace the reason of these exceptions—that those flowers which possess a powerful odour are (in the native state) self- or whole-coloured, while brilliantly variegated flowers are, as a rule, scentless. On the hypothesis that each of these properties has for its object the attraction to the flower of the insect necessary for the fertilisation of its seeds, it is easy to be seen that the presence of both in the same flower is needless; and hence we find that Nature is in the habit of husbanding her resources, and not supplying needlessly to the same flower two different provisions for securing the same end.
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BENNETT, A. The Fertilisation of the Wild Pansy . Nature 8, 49–50 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/008049b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/008049b0