Chapter II. The Flowers.

We learned that that Buttercup family lived within the petals¹ of the Buttercup House. And we learned that the pollen² from the stamen, or father, must reach the pistil, or mother, before the little eggs or seeds contained in the mother can begin to grow and develop into new plants. But the flower cannot move about as can animals, so they must depend on insects and outsiders to bring the pollen into the little nest where the eggs are. But unless there is some object attracting insects, bees, moths⁴ and butterflies, etc., to visit the flowers, they would not come to them, so the flowers have many attractions, such as their color and their odor. But the most important, and one which is sweet is the little bag of nectar or honey contained in many flowers which all insects love and will go far to get. When the insect visits the father, it rubs against his pollen, the pollen sticks to his head or legs. Then as he visits the mother, if the stigma⁵ (which is the top of the pistil, or mother) is ready for the pollen, it shows this by becoming moist, and sometimes 16sticky. Then the pollen clings to the stigma, and down it goes through its tiny tube, to the little nest of ovules, or seeds, where it mates and at once causes the seeds to become alive. Then they grow and grow until their time comes to burst forth⁶ and develop new plants themselves.

Now, it is also important that the little visitors who come for the nectar, or honey, should fly from flower to flower and not crawl, because in doing so the pollen would drop off and never reach the mother flower, who is anxiously awaiting this important substance, so that the little seeds, or babies, may begin to grow. Consequently they have many ways of keeping out the crawling insects. Mrs. Buttercup has a very hairy stem, which makes a very hard journey for Mrs. Ant and others to come into the Buttercup house for a little sip⁷ of honey. She often starts there, but gets so tired out that she gives up the trip and returns to her family without any honey for them. This plan of growing a hairy stem is only one of the interesting ways the flowers have of keeping out the insects who cannot help them carry out the one object for which they exist—to make more flowers.

Some of the flowers have a little trap door to their sac of honey, which only the weight of the bee can open. Others keep their nectar in long tubes, so that only bees with long tongues 17can reach it. An example of this is in the Orchid⁸ of Madagascar, which has a nectar tube eleven inches long, and depends upon one certain kind of moth³ for its existence.

It is related that when Darwin was confronted with the evidence of this flower as against one of his theories he insisted that such an insect must live—even before it had been discovered! Again, other flowers keep their petals closed, and the petals must be forced apart in order to get the honey by a strong bumblebee. The flowers that are fertilized¹⁰ by the insects are called “insect loving.” Those that are fertilized by the wind are called “wind loving,” etc.

The buttercup was thought not to need the insects to carry its pollen to the stigma—it was for some time thought to be what is called self-fertilizing. But the discovery of the small sac of nectar shows that it must have a purpose, and that purpose to attract insects to bring pollen from other father flowers to fertilize⁹ the tiny seeds.

The stigma is not always ready to accept the pollen, but when it is ready it becomes moist, and in some flowers sticky, which shows it is in condition to accept the pollen or is ready to mate and that the seeds are ready for their development. This condition often lasts only a few hours, but sometimes a few days.

18The boys had now been taught and had seen how the pollen reaches the baby seeds. They had been taught the importance of the pollen for the growth of the seeds. They had seen that after the pollen reaches the seeds, that they are given new life, that they remain right in their little nest and are nourished by the pistil or mother flower, until they are full grown or matured. Now as this process is the whole object of the individual plant, what happens then?

The boys were shown that as soon as the seeds begin to grow, the petals, on the mother flower, begin to wither¹¹, and it seemed as if the flower gave of its beauty, form and youth in order that the baby seeds should grow and mature.

The boys were then taught that the plant depends on the earth and air for its nourishment¹², and as the various flowers have various ways of keeping the crawling insects out of their honey sac, so have they different ways of spreading or scattering¹⁴ their seeds after they have matured. If all the seeds of all plants fell right down near the parent plant there might not be nourishment enough to provide all the seeds with food.

So again the outsiders assist them as they did in carrying the pollen. This time it is the wind which does much to assist them in this 19work. The birds, too, eat of the seeds and drop some of them on other ground. The wind serves the milkweed and dandelion; the birds help the fruits, berries, and the “burrs,” help themselves by catching¹⁵ on the clothing of passersby¹⁶, or the fur and hair of animals.

Then there are those seeds which are in pods—sweetpeas, beans, peas, etc. Some of these dry and curl up, and as this is done, it throws the seeds in various places. Then there are those seeds which are in burrs, nuts, chestnuts¹⁷, etc., which also burst open at a certain time, some of them explode, and this process scatters¹⁸ the seed over an area of several yards. But the wind seems to be the most important messenger in helping¹⁹ the flowers scatter¹³ their seeds.

The boys were also taught that the plants breathe and need care; that their struggle for existence is intense. They are also taught of the beautiful development of the flower under cultivation²⁰, and Mrs. Buttercup and Mrs. Daisy were both taken from the field and cultivated, given plenty of light, water and the proper soil, best suited to the needs of each, and the results were wonderful.

The boys each were given small gardens of wild flowers, which they cared for themselves, and the following year they each had small vegetable gardens.

20Every flower had a life story, they were told, and each a different story—interesting, intense and true.

Bobby’s mother found that the boys absorbed this information readily and very quickly. Although they studied the flowers for an entire year, they also studied the frogs and birds, together with the flowers. The mammals and humans were taken up during the winter.

They were also told that every baby seed continued this life of producing more flowers, that every girl was like the mother flower who had the little seeds hidden within her ever since she was born, while every boy is like the father flower and has the sac of pollen like him.

That the seeds are hidden way back in the abdomen²¹ and when she grows big enough the seeds will grow also and she too may be a mother of little boys and girls.

That the pollen in the boy is kept in the scrotum until he grows up big and strong, when it too will be ready to add life to little seeds and then become the father of strong boys and girls.

On a later occasion when Bobby was taking his bath, he felt greater freedom now to ask all kinds of questions. He pointed²² to the umbilicus and asked his mother what that was for. He was told that that was the navel, so called, and it was where the cord had been which had tied him to mother when he was a little seed, and 21through which he had received all his air, food and drink. This caused great surprise, so much so that upon the first occasion in talking with the boys he gave this information in his own way, which led one to understand all boys were interested and curious about this depression in the abdomen.

This information had a most marvelous effect in establishing the truth in their minds; it seemed as if they needed proof and here, indeed, it was.

Much more time could have been spent on the flowers, but once the idea is given that each child is like the flowers, and that the flowers are like people, the rest is simple.

The frogs then took their attention, but never wholly, for on every occasion when a new flower appeared, it was examined as to its color and possibilities of family rearing.

1 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

3 moth   

n.蛾，蛀虫

参考例句：

• A moth was fluttering round the lamp.有一只蛾子扑打着翅膀绕着灯飞。
• The sweater is moth-eaten.毛衣让蛀虫咬坏了。

4 moths   

n.蛾( moth的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moths have eaten holes in my wool coat. 蛀虫将我的羊毛衫蛀蚀了几个小洞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The moths tapped and blurred at the window screen. 飞蛾在窗帘上跳来跳去，弄上了许多污点。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

6 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

7 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

8 orchid   

n.兰花，淡紫色

参考例句：

• The orchid is a class of plant which I have never tried to grow.兰花这类植物我从来没种过。
• There are over 35 000 species of orchid distributed throughout the world.有35,000多种兰花分布在世界各地。

9 fertilize   

v.使受精，施肥于，使肥沃

参考例句：

• Fertilizer is a substance put on land to fertilize it.肥料是施在地里使之肥沃的物质。
• Reading will fertilize his vocabulary.阅读会丰富他的词汇。

10 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。

11 wither   

vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡

参考例句：

• She grows as a flower does-she will wither without sun.她象鲜花一样成长--没有太阳就会凋谢。
• In autumn the leaves wither and fall off the trees.秋天，树叶枯萎并从树上落下来。

12 nourishment   

n.食物，营养品；营养情况

参考例句：

• Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
• He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。

13 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

14 scattering   

n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散

参考例句：

• The child felle into a rage and began scattering its toys about. 这孩子突发狂怒，把玩具扔得满地都是。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The farmers are scattering seed. 农夫们在播种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

16 passersby   

n. 过路人(行人,经过者)

参考例句：

• He had terrorized Oxford Street,where passersby had seen only his footprints. 他曾使牛津街笼罩了一片恐怖气氛，因为那儿的行人只能看到他的脚印，看不到他的人。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• A person is marceling on a street, watching passersby passing. 街边烫发者打量着匆匆行人。

17 chestnuts   

n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马

参考例句：

• A man in the street was selling bags of hot chestnuts. 街上有个男人在卖一包包热栗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Talk of chestnuts loosened the tongue of this inarticulate young man. 因为栗子，正苦无话可说的年青人，得到同情他的人了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

18 scatters   

v.（使）散开， （使）分散，驱散( scatter的第三人称单数 )；撒

参考例句：

• He scatters money about as if he were rich. 他四处挥霍，好像很有钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Truth raises against itself the storm that scatters its seeds broadcast. 真理引起了反对它自己的狂风骤雨，那场风雨吹散了真理的广播的种子。 来自辞典例句

19 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

20 cultivation   

n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成

参考例句：

• The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
• The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃，不值得耕种。

21 abdomen   

n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分)

参考例句：

• How to know to there is ascarid inside abdomen?怎样知道肚子里面有蛔虫？
• He was anxious about an off-and-on pain the abdomen.他因时隐时现的腹痛而焦虑。

22 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。