92 



TALKS AFIELD. 



long stamens fertilizes long pistils. Now, it 

 may happen that pollen may be rubbed off 

 on to the stigma of its own flower. What 

 then ? Simply this : the pollen is usually 

 powerless upon the stigma of its own flower. 

 Darwin found that the pollen either will not 

 act upon its contiguous stigma, or it acts 

 slowly and waits for the more potent foreign 

 pollen. Some plants have trimorphous flow- 

 ers, which bear sta- 

 mens and petals of 

 different lengths, 

 borne upon distinct 

 plants. 



A flower of the 

 kalmia, or common 

 wide - leaved moun- 

 tain laurel, is shown 

 The ten anthers are held in 

 little pockets in the co- 

 rolla, and they are not re- 

 leased until some insect 

 touches them, when they 

 fly inward and throw 

 their pollen upon it. Fig. 

 73 represents a pea-flower. 

 The ten stamens and the 



Fig. 73. 



pistil are hidden in the small lower projec- 



