138 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 
Pull off a sepal and make a sketch of it, natural size ; then remove a 
petal, flatten it out, and sketch it, natural size. 
Observe that the flower-stalk is enlarged slightly at the upper end into 
a rounded portion, the receptacle, from which all the parts of the flower 
spring. 
Note how the six stamens arise from the receptacle, three of them 
from points just within and above the origins of the petals, the other 
three from points between the petals. Remove the remaining petals 
(cutting them off near the bottom with a knife), and sketch the stamens, 
together with another object, the pistil, which stands in the centre. 
Cut off one stamen, and sketch it as seen through the magnifying glass. 
Notice that it consists of a greenish stalk, the filament, and a broader 
portion, the anther, Fig. 116, B. The latter is easily seen to contain a 
prolongation of the green filament, nearly surrounded by a yellow sub- 
stance. In the bud it will be found that the anther consists of two long 
pouches or anther-cells, which are attached by their whole length to the 
filament, and face inward (towards the centre of the flower). When the 
flower is fairly open, the anther-cells have already split down their 
margins, and are discharging a yellow, somewhat sticky powder, the 
pollen. 
Examine one of the anthers with the microscope, using the two-inch 
objective (No. 1), and sketch it. 
Cut away all the stamens, and sketch the pistil. It consists of a stout 
lower portion, the ovary, which is six-ridged or angled, and which bears 
at its summit three slender stigmas. 
In another flower, which has begun to wither (and in which the ovary 
is larger than in a newly-opened flower), cut the ovary across about the 
middle, and try to make out with the magnifying glass the number of 
chambers or cells which it contains. Examine the cross-section with the 
two-inch objective ; sketch it, and note particularly the appearance and 
mode of attachment of the undeveloped seeds or ovules with which it is 
filled. Make a vertical section of another rather mature ovary, and 
examine this in the same way. 
Using a fresh flower, construct a diagram to show the relation of the 
parts on an imaginary cross-section, as illustrated in Fig. 135.1 Con- 
struct a diagram of a longitudinal section of the flower, on the general 
plan of those in Fig. 133, but showing the contents of the ovary. 
1It is important to notice that such a diagram is not a picture of the section 
actually produced by cutting through the flower crosswise at any one level, but that 
it is rather a projection of the sections through the most typical part of each of the 
floral organs. ; 
a 
