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It is the
inconspicuous little flowers grouped within their circle that
attend to the serious business of life. The shrub found it good
economy to increase the size of the outer row of flowers, even at
the expense of their reproductive organs, simply to add to the
conspicuousness of the clusters, when so many blossoms enter into
fierce competition with them for insect trade. Many beetles,
attracted by the white color, come to feed on pollen, and often
destroy the anthers in their greed. But the lesser bees (Andrena
chiefly), and more flies, whose short tongues easily obtain the
accessible nectar, render constant service. These welcome guests
we have to thank for the clusters of coral-red berries that make
the shrub even more beautiful in September than in May.
Because it sometimes sends its straggling branches downward in
loops that touch the ground and trip up the unwary pedestrian,
who presumably hobbles off in pain, the bush received a name with
which the stumbler will be the last to find fault.


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