326 HOW PLANTS LIVE AND WORK. 



which contain honey. The position of these honey-glands or 

 nectaries should be remembered. Before the bud opens the calyx 

 is the only part of the flower which is visible. It is probably 

 developed in the Wallflower solely for the protection of the more 

 delicate structures within. Next, inside the sepals, and inserted 

 alternately with them, are four showy leaves., arranged in the form 

 of a Maltese cross. These leaves are called petals, and the four 

 petals together form the corolla. 



The petals are delicately scented, and their surfaces have a 

 peculiarly beautiful velvety sheen. The rest of the flower has, at 

 first sight, no resemblance whatever to leaves. If the sepals and 

 petals be carefully removed, it will be seen that there remain six 

 stamens surrounding a centrally placed pistil. 



The comparatively insignificant stamens and pistil, strange as 

 it may seem, are the all-important parts of the flower ; indeed, it 

 is in order that they may fulfil their functions that all the other 

 parts of the flowers are formed ; calyx, corolla, honey-glands, 

 exist only for this purpose, notwithstanding Man's pleasing delu- 

 sion that the beauty and the scent of flowers, the luscious 

 sweetness of fruits, were created for his especial delectation ! 



The stamens constitute the fertilising apparatus of the flower, 

 while the pistil produces the young seeds. The stamens may, 

 therefore, be looked upon as the male, and the pistil as the female 

 part of the flower., 



To quite understand the work which stamens and pistil per- 

 form, it is necessary to examine them in a little more detail. Each 

 stamen consists of a greenish stalk, surmounted by a yellow boat- 

 shaped body, called the anther of the stamen. The anther is a 

 box with four compartments. When it is ripe, each compartment 

 contains an enormous number of tiny yellow grains called pollen 

 grains, and when the anther bursts, as it does as soon as the flower 

 opens, its inner face is covered by the yellow dust of the pollen. 

 The pistil bears a rough resemblance to a slender bottle, and 

 consists of three distinct parts. The neck of the " bottle," called 

 the style, is short in the Wallflower, and difl'ers from an ordinary 

 bottle-neck in being solid instead of tubular. At the top of the 

 neck, where the cork would come in a real bottle, is a body called 

 the stigma. The stigma of the Wallflower pistil is hairy and 



