Ch. 



PISTILS. 



7? 



Fig. 52. 315. The Anther, is a little knob 



or box, usually situated on the 

 summit of the filament ; it hai 

 cells or cavities which contain a 

 powder called the pollen; this i* 

 yellow, and very conspicuous in the 

 Lily and Tulip. You have here 

 the representation (Fig. 52) of a 

 stamen with its filament (a,) its 

 anther (b) and the discharging pol- 

 ien (c.) In many flowers, you will perceive the filament to be 

 wanting; the anthers are then said to be sessile; that is. 

 placed immediately upon the corolla ; as at d, which represents 

 a flower cut open, and its five stamens growing sessile in the 

 throat. 



Pistils. 



315. In the centre of the flower stands the Pistil, an organ 

 essential to the plant. Like the stamens, pistils vary in num- 

 ber in different plants, some having but one, others hundreds. 

 Linnaeus has founded the orders of his first twelve classes on 

 the number of these organs. 



317, The pistil consists of three parts, germ, style, and stig- 

 ma. It may be compared to a pillar ; the germ (Fig. 53, a) 

 corresponding to the base; the style (b} to the shaft; and the 

 stigma (e) to_the capital. 



The figure at (g-) represents the 

 pistil of the Poppy ; the germ or base 

 is very large ; you will perceive thai, 

 the style is wanting, and the stigma 

 is sessile, or placed immediately on 

 the germ. The style is not an es- 

 sential part, but the stigma and germ 

 are never wanting ; so that these two 

 parts, as in the Poppy, often consti- 

 tute a pistil. 



318. Germ. The germ contain?, the rudiments of the fruit 

 yet in an embryo or unformed state. This germ is the future 

 fruit, but in passing to its perfect state it undergoes a greal 



Fig. 53. 



315. Describe the anther. 



316. Describe the pistil. 



317. What are the parts of the pistil 



318. Describe the e-e.rm. 



