90 TALKS AFIELD. 



a new pollen supply. The hairs of bees and 

 other insects hold the pollen. It will be seen 

 that this fertilization by the bee in the fig- 

 wort is a hit-and-miss operation, and much 

 pollen must necessarily be wasted. Still the 

 stigma cannot well be fertilized by the pol- 

 len of its own flower, for it is not receptive 

 when the anthers mature. If, however, the 

 stigma receives no pollen it will probably 

 remain receptive imtil its own anthers ma- 

 ture, for it prefers close-fertilization to none 

 at all. It is an interesting study to observe 

 the relative times of maturing of anthers 

 and stamens in common flowers. In none 

 of the showy flowers do they mature simul- 

 taneously unless there is some special imped- 

 iment in the structure of the parts which 

 forbids close-fertilization. 



Many plants are found to have dimor- 

 phous flowers ; that is, perfect flowers of two 

 kinds borne on different plants. One plant 

 bears flowers which have long and protruding 

 styles and short, hidden stamens, as in J., 

 Fig. 71 ; another plant of this same species 

 bears flowers entirely opposite in character, 

 the stamens being long and the styles short, 

 as in B. The short stamens in A and the 

 short style in B always remain as short as 



