Study Insects and Flowers

Soldier beetle pollinating a flower.

       The  vast  majority  of  flowering  plants  are  arranged  by  botanists  into  two classes,  wind-fertilized (anemophilous), and insect-fertilized  (entomopkilous), that  is,  plants  whose pollen  is  brought  to  their  stigmas  by  the  wind,  and  plants  for which  insects  perform  this  duty.  One  striking  feature  of  wind-fertilized  plants is  the  absence  of  bright-colored  leaves  and  of  scent.  The  interior  of  these flowers,  too,  contains  no  honey;  the  visits  of  insects  would  be  of  no  use  to them,  so  they  do  not  offer  any  inducements  to  these  animals  to  come  to  them.

       Insects  are  induced  to  visit  flowers  in  some  cases  to  get  shelter  from  storms ; in  others  to  deposit  their  eggs,  but  most  commonly  of  all  to  procure  food. Honey  and  pollen  are  the  principal  foods  which  they  seek  for  in  flowers; but  pollen  is  ordinarily  produced  in  such  abundance  that  much  of  it  can  be spared.  The  brilliant  colors  of  the  corolla  enable  the  flower to  be  seen  at  a distance,  and  the  various  parts  of  the  flower  are,  as  a  rule,  so  shaped  as  to admit  only  into  the  interior  the  insects  that  are  serviceable.  The  honey  which the  flower  secretes,  and  the  sweet  smells  do  not,  as  far  as  is  known,  serve  any other  purpose  save  that  of  attracting  insects.

       The  modes  in  which  the  flower  adapts  itself  to  the  visits  of  special  insects, the  appliances  by  which  it  covers  these  with  pollen,  to  be  transferred  to stigma  of  another  flower,  are  wonderfully  various,  and  seem  mostly intended  to  favor  cross-fertilization.

Required for Observation in The Classroom: This  lesson  should  be  illustrated  by means  of a  variety  of  flowers,  including  species  that  are  small  and  inconspicuous,  and  others  brightly  colored,  flowers  that  sleep  by  day (evening  primroses,  tobacco,  &c.),  flowers  that  sleep  by  night  (daisy, dandelion,  pimpernel,  &c.),  and  odorless  and  sweet-scented  flowers. Diagrams  showing  the  sucking-tubes  of  insects.

Method of Student Observation:

• Various  flowers  should  be  examined  in  order  to  see  and  taste  the sweet  nectar  produced  by  them. 
• Diagrams  showing  the  sucking-tubes  of  insects  should  be  shown, and  the  insects  themselves  should  be observed  as  they  visit  the  flowers  in a  garden.
  This  information  should  be  acquired,  if  possible,  by  the  observation of  insects  at  large,  and  not  given  by the  teacher  in  the  school-room. 
• Examples  of  flowers  (primrose, canterbury  bell,  carnation, etc.) illustrating  the  accompanying  notes may  be  found  in  most  flower-gardens, or  in  hedgerows  and  banks. 
• These  facts  should  be  verified  by the  actual  observation  of  flowers  and insects  at  different  periods  of  the day  and  evening,  and  the  children should  be  encouraged  to  make  notes of  their  own  independent  observations,  carried  on  at  any  time.  
  

How to Grade Study Notes For Student Journals: Every student will need a journal to write in weekly for this online nature study series. Teacher will assign the weekly content in advance.

• Make sure the facts are: written in complete sentences, the first word of each sentence capitalized, and a period should be included at the end of each sentence.
• Spell check your vocabulary and write the words correctly.
• Dress up your journal entries with student clip art, drawings of your own in color or in black and white.
• Student may also include photographs of their own taking for extra credit.

Look for the following facts about insects and flowers inside of student journals. Assign a point value to the quality of the content.

• Why  Insects  visit  Flowers. - Many  flowers  produce  sweet  fluids on  which  certain  insects  (bees,  butterflies, etc.)  delight  to  feed.  Such insects  are  provided  with  long sucking-tubes,  which  can  be  thrust down  the  cups  and  tubes  of  flowers for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  these fluids,  and  some  (bees)  are  also  provided  with  jaws  by  which  they  can bite  through  the  lower  parts  of  the flowers  when  their  sucking-tubes  are not  long  enough  to  reach  the  sweet juices  from  above.
• Some  insects  (bees,  &c.)  feed  on the  pollen,  or  else  collect  the  pollen to  feed  their  young.
• How  Insects  help  Flowers. - When  an  insect  visits  flowers,  some of  the  pollen  adheres  to  its  body. Then,  as  it  flies  from  flower  to flower  in  quest  of  food,  the  pollen  it carries  is  transferred  to  the  stigmas, thus  assisting  in  the  work  of  fertilization.
• Insects  generally  fly  from  flower to  flower  of  the  same  species,  thus adding  to  their  usefulness,  for  the ovule  of  one  species  can  only  be fertilized  by  pollen  from  the  same species  or  from  one  closely  allied.
• Some  flowers  cannot  possibly  fertilize  themselves,  either  because  their anthers  and  their  stigmas  are  so situated,  relatively,  that  pollen  cannot  be  transferred  from  one  to  the other  (e.g.  the  primrose);  or  because the  anthers  and  the  stigmas  are never  mature  at  the  same  period. Such  flowers  must  have  their  pollen  transferred,  and  this  work  is carried  on  by  insects  or  by  the  wind. 
• How  Flowers  attract  Insects. - Those  flowers  which  are  fertilized  by the  wind  are,  as  a  rule,  very  inconspicuous,  and  have  no  scent ;  but those  which  require  the  aid  of  insects generally  have  brilliant corollas,  or  emit sweet  odors  to  attract  them.
• Again,  some  flowers  seem  to  prefer the  aid  of  particular  species  of insects,  and  remain  closed  except  at the  hours  during  which  those  insects are  on  the  wing.  Hence  we  find some  flowers  sleeping  during  the  day, and  others  during  the  night.
• The  flowers  which  require  the  aid of  day -flying  insects  usually  have  corollas  to  attract  them.  Those which  prefer  the  visits  of  night-fliers often  remain  closed  till  the  evening, and  attract  the  insects  either  by  their sweet  perfume,  or  by  their  large white  or  pale-yellow  corollas,  which are  readily  distinguished  at  a  distance after  dark. 

Video at Youtube for Students to Watch + articles to read:

1. Pollen and Nectar Carriers - article
2. Insect Mimicry and Protective Coloration - article
3. Video Attracting Beneficial Insects by Gardener Scott
4. Video Building A Host Environment for Beneficial Insects by Paul Zimmerman

The Insect and Flower Anchor Chart and Classroom Discussion: Direct discussions, develop vocabulary and demonstrate correct sentence writing. Anchor charts are used in many different grades the following example below may be used in 2nd through 4th grade during a group discussion.

• The  insect  visits  flowers  to  seek  for  honey.
• The  honey  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  flower-cup.
• The  insect  sucks  up  the  honey  from  the  bottom  of  the  flower with  its  long  sucking  tube.
• The  insect  visits  flowers  to  seek  for  honey,  which  lies  at  the bottom  of  the  flower-cup.
• The  yellow  dust  inside  the  flower  is  called  pollen.
• The  insects  gather  the  pollen  and  make  it  into  a  kind  of  bread for  their  young.
• The  pollen  sticks  to  the  insect  when  it  is  seeking  for  honey in  the  flower.
• The  yellow  dust  inside  flowers  is  called  pollen,  and  sticks to  the  insect,  when  it  is  seeking  for  honey  in  the  flower.
• When  the  insect  leaves  a  flower  its  body  is  covered  with pollen.
• The  insect  carries  the  pollen  to  the  next  flower.
• This  helps  the  flower  to  produce  seed.
• When  the  insect  leaves  a  flower  its  body  is  covered  with pollen ,  which  it  carries  to  the  next  flower ,  and  so  helps the  flower  to  produce  seed.  

Insect and Flower Frame Printables: Print, color and write your favorite nature poem inside the boarder printable. For student use, not for resale.

Click to download the largest available size before dragging to your desktop.

 Poems to Copy, Credit the Author Please:

• Creation by Edward P. Butler
• Flower Fairies by Philip Bourke Marston
• Waking To Life by Hannah Kohaus
• The Hollyhock Fairy by M. D. Cole
• Caterpillar On The Wall by Marion Ryan
• Spring by Betty Alsterlund

Extended Learning Content: 

• Flower with insects drawing for kids by Piyanki Khushi
• Start drawing of a ladybug and scenery by stART DrawinG
• Acrylic painting of beautiful flower with lady bug by V art World

Free Student Clip Art: Clip art may be printed from a home computer, a classroom computer or from a computer at a library and/or a local printing service provider. This may be done from multiple locations as needed because our education blog is online and available to the general public.

1.  Section  of  Flower,  showing  honey  secreted  at  bottom  of  tube ; 
2.  Insect-fertilized Flower;  3.  Insect  at  work,  sucking  honey;
  4. Sucking-tube  of  insect  enlarged,
and  section  of  same ;  5.  Wind-fertilized  Flowers.