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ica 



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CLilty; for, as quoted by Prof. Goodale, in " Wild Flowers of Anier- 



he thinks that the pollen of Rhexia escapes by a clandes- 

 tine opening, protected by a seta near where the filament unites with 

 the connective. I have not the book at hand to quote the precise 

 words, but the fact that Prof. Goodale, who is well aware of the 

 pore at the top of the anther-cell, quotes Nuttall's explanation, seems 

 to imply that he himself was not satisfied as to the capacity of the 

 pore to provide escape for the pollen. Insects are so clever in get- 

 ting at the floral reservoirs in spite of the contrivances of Natuwe, 

 that Nuttall may have been misled by some of their operations ; 

 but, as we shall see, there is abundant means for ttie escape of the 

 pollen in the regular way. 



If we open the bud of a Rhexia just about to expand, we find 

 the pistil rising considerably above the circle of 8 stamens which 

 surround it, but with the lobes of the stigma yet unseparated. In 

 this stage the stamens are inflexed, so that the anther is enclosed be- 

 tween the filament and the style, the back of the connective resting 

 on the style and the pollniferous tube confined between the 

 nective and the filament. The *' seta," or small spur at the base of 

 the connective, is pressed between the latter and the style. Evi- 

 dently there is no room here for cleistogamy. But, when the flower 

 expands, the stamens arrange themselves in two sets, four on each 

 side of the style, as shown in the side view, Fig. i. Each anther 

 stands atip on the top of its filament, so that, while the vertex is 



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turned toward the lower part of the flower, it is 

 nevertheless much more elevated above the floral 

 plane than the puffed-out lower portion. 



The poliniferous portion of the anther. Fig. 2, 

 consists of a Single sack, w^hich may be described 

 as consisting of three parts : 

 portion {a) .; a narrow tube ; and a very small 

 oblate spheroid (<:), flattened parallel to the upper 

 surface of the anther, and, of course, having its 

 ' axis perpendicular to that surface. The upper 

 pole of this tiny spheroid contains a pore, 

 so small as to be hardly discernible to the naked 

 eye. Owing to the curve of the anther this pore 

 faces towards, but upwards from its base. 



an inflated lower 



Under the poliniferous sack is the connective (/^), 

 reaching from the top to near the lower end, where 

 ,it is overlapped by the inflated portion, A very little above the base 

 of the connective the filament is attached, and just above this again, 

 the small^ spur-like process {d) . issues from the connective and 

 presses with its point the upper part of the filament, whose extreme 

 top is bent slightly backward. 



While the stamens have been attaining their position, the style 

 elongates, bends downward and turns up its stigma, which thus be- 

 comes considerably below and behind the anthers. At the same 

 time Its lobes separate and the viscid stigmatic surface is exposed. 

 In this position the stigma affords the first resting-place for a bee 

 alighting on the flower, and must catch any pollen that may be ad- 



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