12 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST, 



ly poppy), Fumaria officinalis, Tussilago farfara (colt's 

 foot — in quantity at Port Morris ; I h^ive never seen it 

 elsewhere), Lacttrca scariola (prickl_v lettuce), Crepis tec- 

 toram, Matricaria chamomilla, Anthemis nobilis, A.cotu- 

 la and .4. arrensis (com chamomile, rare), Asperugo pro- 

 cumhens — still at Oak Point, — Lithospermum an^ense, 

 Viola arvense, Agrostema githago, Lychius diurna, L. 

 /Jos cuculi, Zygophyllum fahago, Potentilla anserinay 

 Reseda hitea and great numbers of more common species. 



New York City, N. Y. 



POLLENATION OF THE SUNFLOWER, 



BY WILLARD N. CLUTE. 



BOTANICAL works that mention the subject at all say 

 that the sunflower's method of cross-pollenation con- 

 sists in a tube formed by the stamens into which the pollen 

 is shed, to be later pushed out at the top by the lengthen- 

 ing style, after Avhich the stigmas spread out to receive 

 pollen from other flowers. But this is onh^ the least in- 

 teresting part of the truth. 



Happening to examine a sunflower recentlj', I \vas 

 struck hv the fact that the blooming florets were much 

 taller than any of the others, not forgetting those that 



had finished blooming. It is not unusual for flowers to 

 increase in length at the blooming period, but ho\v the 

 sunflower florets v^-ere able to shorten up later was what 

 puzzled me. A short examination of a floret, however,, 

 solved the mystery and revealed a very pretty 

 piece of plant mechanism b\' which the short- 

 ening is brought about. 



It seems that the new florets are taller 

 than the others because the stamen-ring pro- 

 jects above the corolla and the stigmas pro- 

 ject above the ring. In older florets the stig- 

 mas are scarcelj^ longer than the corolla, and 

 it turns out that after the pollen is shed both 

 the stamens and the stigmas are retracted into the corolla 



