64 THE FLOWER. 



The pistillum, like the stamen, consists also 

 of three parts, the germen, style, and stigma. 

 We nrjy compare it to a pillar, and then the 

 first will represent the pedestal, the second the 

 shaft, and the third the capital, as in the pistil 

 of the Lily, Fig 123, where /shows the ger- 

 men, e the style, and d the stigma. 



Only the first and last of these, however, are 

 essential, for if instead of a Lily, a Tulip be examined, it will 

 be found that the stigma is placed immediately on the germen 



Fig. 124. 



A 



In the Poppy, also, Fig. 124, the large glob- 

 ular part is the germen, on which sits the 

 stigma, g, scolloped or radiated in a beautiful 

 manner. 



USE OF THE PISTILS AND STAMENS. 



The Stamens and Pistils are the organs of re-production 

 in all vegetables. Without the presence of these, together 

 with the influence of the pollen on the stigma, the seeds of 

 plants have not, in any case, been found to arrive to such 

 maturity as to vegetate, or perpetuate its species. These 

 parts have with great labor and research, been found to exist 

 in all vegetables, even the most minute, except, perhaps, in 

 some of the cryptogamous tribes, as the Sea Weeds and 

 Mosses, where they are not obvious. 



The pollen, which to the eye appears in the form of yel- 

 low dust, and is particularly abundant in the anthers of the 

 Lily, is, in reality, composed of little bags, containing a gel- 

 atinous matter. These little bags are of various forms, and 

 when examined by a microscope, some of them present sur- 

 faces nearly smooth, and which remain entire so long as they 

 are kept dry, but when moistened, they burst, and throw out 

 their contents. 



The stigma, as already explained, is connected with the 

 germen by means of the style, and is an essential part of the 



When the style is wanting, where is the stigma placed ? What we the 

 uses of tho stamens and pistils ? 



