14 



DICOTYLEDONS 



more conspicuous by being coloured dark purple at thev:r base. 

 The numerous stamens, so combined with the petals that the/ 

 form a tube covering the ovary and the style (fig. 11,3), produce 

 large quantities of yellow pollen-dust for the insects to feed on. 



The anthers (which are best 

 examined in flower -buds) 

 are one-celled and kidney- 

 shapecl. The long style grows 

 through the tube, formed 

 by the stamens, and bears 

 live stigmas above everything 

 else, and they are therefore in 

 the best position to catch the 

 pollen brought 

 by insects from 

 any other flower 

 they have visit- 

 ed. Without 

 the fruit will not «^et, 

 e plant will not bear 

 seed. 



The Fruit is a dry 

 capsule (fig. 11, 4) of three 

 cells (called lociili) with the 

 seeds attached to the inner 

 angles of each cell (axile 

 placentation). When ripe, 

 these cells burst by three ver- 

 tical lines between the parti- 

 tions (loculicidal), so as to 

 open out the cells and expose 

 the hairy seeds to the action 

 of the wind which may carry 

 them to a distance. These hairs are "cotton" and it is on ac- 

 count of them that the plant is so largely cultivated in almost all 

 tropical countries. The cotton is gathered hy hand, dried in the 

 sun, passed through a gin to remove the seeds and then pressed 



Fig. 10. — Longitudinal section of Shoeflower 

 {Hibiscus rosa sinensis). Natural size. 



