Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/358

 328 its purpose is liable to be frustrated by rain or heavy dews. Linnæus observes that husbandmen find their crops of rye to suffer more from this cause than barley, because in the latter the anthers are more protected by the husks; and that Juniper berries are sparingly, or not at all, produced in Sweden when the flowering season has been wet. The same great observer also remarks, what yearly experience confirms, that Cherry-trees are more certainly fruitful than Pear-trees, because in the former the opening of the anthers is, in each blossom, much more progressive, so that a longer period elapses for the accomplishment of the fertilization of the germen, and there is consequently less chance of its being hindered by a few showers.

To guard against the hurtful influence of nocturnal dews or drenching rains, most flowers either fold their petals together, or hang down their heads, when the sun does not shine; by which, their internal organs are sheltered. In some which always droop, as the Snowdrops Galanthus and Leucojum, ''Engl. Bot. t. 19 and 621, the Fritillary, t.'' 622, the Crown Imperial, various species of