146 BREEDING 



The pea carries its reproductive organs in its 

 flowers ; and the brightness of the flowers is supposed 

 to serve as an attraction to insects whose services are 

 required to transfer the fertilising element from one 

 flower to another. AVhether the pea-flower ever 

 required these services, I cannot say. But it is certain 

 that it does not do so now ; for the pea is normally self- 

 fertilised. It may be necessary to remind the reader 

 that the reproductive organs of both sexes are present 

 in one and the same flower in the pea, as in the 

 majority of flowering plants. The male cells are 

 contained in the nine yellow bodies, called anthers, 

 borne on long, delicate stalks, inside the flower ; the 

 anther together with its stalk is called the stamen. The 

 female cells are contained in the rod-like structure 

 called the ovary, which has a curved and tufted tip 

 called the ^pistil. If a newly but fully opened flower of a 

 pea be plucked and examined, it will be found to con- 

 sist of the following parts : Five green " petals " 

 encircling the flower and appearing to be continuous 

 with the flower stalk, called sepals : a single, erect 

 petal, known as the standard ; a pair of petals, facing 

 one another, more or less, the wings ; and inside the 

 wings a single, boat-shaped, and much stifler and 

 greener structure with a projecting keel, which gives 

 this part its name, the carina. Inside the carina 

 are the anthers, and, surrounded by the anthers, the 

 pistil. If the flower is fully open, the anthers 

 will be ripe ; that is, they will have burst and 

 discharged their pollen grains. Each pollen grain 

 contains a male reproductive cell. The pollen 



