44 THE FLOWER. 
a. The ovule is said to be erect when it grows from the base of the ovary 
ascending, when it grows from a little above the base; pendulous, when it hangs 
from the summit of the cavity, and suspended, when it hangs from a little below 
the summit. 
90. In their early state, the ovules are quite soft, consisting of 
two sacks or integuments, contaming a pulpy mass. and open 
only at their apex, where there is a passage left through both, 
called the foramen. The outer integument is called the pramine, 
‘the other the secundime, and the central pulpy mass the nucleus. 
(Fig. 11; 8.) 
a. The foramen may be detected even in the perfect seed, by soaking it in 
water, and then pressing out the fluid thus absorbed, which will be seen to issue 
from this little orifice. It has an important agency in the fertilization of the seed, 
which at this early period has no traces of the embryo (18). 
91. The stalk by which the ovule is connected to the pla- 
centa, is called the funiculis, and its point of attachment to the 
nucleus of the ovule, the chalaza. Through these the ovule 
receives its nourishment from the placenta. (Fig. 11; 8, 9.) — 
§4. OF THE MUTUAL ACTION OF THE STAMENS AND PISTILS. 
1 
Din yO 
Lin 
) 92. The specific use of 
rf? the stamens and pistils is 
the fertilization of the 
seed (57, 58). This ap- 
pears to be effected in the 
following manner. At the 
proper season, the anthers 
discharge the poller con- 
tained in their cavities 
through their dehiscence 
FIG. 12.—1, Section of the upper part of the style OF POTes, into theair. Some 
of the snap-dragon, the pollen tubes passing down of jt thus falls upon the 
between the cells; 2,3, 4,5, various forms of pollen, .. 
showing the tubes; 6, pollen of the Ginothera biennis, stigma. 
one of its tubes descending among the cells of the style. 
a. The Author of nature makes special provision for the accomplishment of 
this function. Thus the anthers are generally placed above the stigma, the 
stamens being longer than the pistils when the flower is erect, as in the tulip, 
and shorter, when it droops, as in several species of the lily. In the mountain 
