POLLINATION 



141 



passed. They seem to insure a crop of seed by a method 

 that expends . little of the plant's energy. 

 (Fig. 236.) 

 287. There 

 a special 



is 



and peculiar 

 structure in 

 the peanut or 

 goober, 

 flowers are of 

 two kinds. 



One is showy and staminate (shown uppermost 

 in Fig. 237) ; and one is small and pistillate, and 

 after fertilization is thrust downward into the 

 earth by the elongation of the torus and flower- 

 stem, and the pods ripen underground. (Fig. 238.) 

 288. Flowers may be cross-pollinated by hand. 

 One may carry the pollen of a given flower to the pistils 

 of another flower, for the purpose of securing seeds that 

 may combine some of the characteristics of the two parents. 



237. Peanut. Staminate showy flower above; 

 young pod from pistillate flower below. 



238. Peanut pods ripening underground. 



In this case, the stamens are early removed from the flower 

 to be pollinated so that all possibility of self-fertilization is 

 averted ; and after the other pollen is applied, the flower is 



