Pollination and Fertilization 



121 



A little further on we come to another similar bush, but the 

 flowers are borne in cymose corymbs. Below the flower is no 

 sign of an ovary, but between the petals are four perfect 

 stamens. Here is indeed a division of labour ! You will 

 seldom find one bush without coming to another close by. 



Cliffortia is another common bush often with sharp- 

 pointed leaves. It has two kinds of flowers. Look for the 

 staminate flowers in the direction of the prevailing winds. You 

 may have to go far afield before finding them. They have 



long slender stamens. The stigmas 

 are long and feathery, and you can 

 ?;:^-«v^ // ^ y \ ^^— >^ find no honey glands. 



""^^ \\\^ I / / 11/^'/^ ^^^ Silver Tree {Leucadendron 



\ \A\\ ,11/ ■/ /,A//>^ (ifg^fif^-iun) and its more humble 



relatives, which make the veld bright 



Fig. 136. — Melon. I. Pistillate. II. Staminate flower. (From Henslow's 

 " South African Flowering Plants.") 



in spring with their pale yellow leaves and bracts, have also 

 their flowers of two kinds on separate trees or shrubs. Some- 

 times the different species grow so sociably that it is difficult 

 to decide which pistillate and staminate flowers grow together, 

 as is true of the RestiacecE. 



The Pumpkin family has large yellow flowers. Some of 

 them open for a day and their glory is departed. They con- 

 tain stamens. Hidden sometimes beneath the foliage are 

 flowers, with large ovaries below, which were wanting in the 

 other flowers ; these give promise of becoming pumpkins, or 

 Kafir water-melons or calabases, according to the plant. 



