On the Fructification of Seeds. 83 
bb the seed-vessel ; cc the hidden nectary; dd the rising up of 
the hearts of the seeds before they enter the seed-vessel, and 
place themselves at ee in the seed. 
The next sort of pistil is that which opens the stigina into 
various divisions. This most simply declares its office, since the 
pistil never divides till the pollen balls are ready to explode. 
This is seen in the Iris, where the powder or dust is discovered all 
the way down the passage (fig. 5. ee e,) beginning to pass into 
it at dd. No pistil so puzzled the botanist at first as the Tris. 
It was long disputed which was the female: but nothing is so 
easy as fixing on that part, as it is always the middle pillar, (see 
fig. 5.) Lb the seed-vessel; cc the secret nectary; 7° the 
stigma; and g g’the style which conveys the joint juices in three 
rows to the seeds. In many of the stigmas formed in this man- 
ner, there appears no opening till just before the whole is con- 
cluded and that the stigma is covered with balls, as at B Cz 
then, if carefully watched, the stamens will be seen to burst one 
after the other, so as to surround the stigma with a sort of cloud; 
‘and this is almost always at noon. This accounted to me for 
a beautiful sight I never saw but twice, though I have often 
watched for it—the flowing of the pollen in a field of rye-grass. 
A cloud came on, which at first I could not understand, and fell on 
the female Nower and leaves around. I had just come for the pur- 
pose of examining whether the seeds were fructified: I found they 
were not; but two daysafter when taken up,the line of life appeared 
along the heart and seed, and the seed-leaf had begun to grow. 
In many stigmas that divide, the stamens fall so completely into 
the aperture which the separation has made, as to be theniselves 
dissolved and sent down the style to the seeds. Authors have 
said that it is strange that the dust of the pollen is never disco- 
vered in the passage, and that it never tints with its colour the 
interior of the style. But this is certainly a great mistake, for 
I have repeatedly seen it do so. I have just mentioned a proot 
of this; and the Rhododendron is another instance where the 
passage is so open that the balls enter and are soon absorbed, 
and the juice carried down to the seeds. But in general the 
cases of the pollen are taken for the powder itself; the inward 
dust is rarely of any other colour than a very light green or 
very pale yellow, though the cases are often highly painted: and 
this faint tint is so like the appearance of the juices, that it would 
produce no change on them if mixed. But when this proves 
different, the interior of the style gets often coloured, as is seen 
in the tulip; in which though the pollenis a very pale green, 
yet the stamens are almost black, and often mix their colour with 
it, and thus paint the interior of the style. This also happens 
to the yellow Jris, where the coloured stamens impress their tint 
, F2°, within 
