Crocuses 25 



This spot, the stigmatic surface, is the goal 

 of the microspores. It is very various in its ap- 

 pearance in different flowers. Sometimes it is a 

 little knob, sometimes a small point, sometimes, 

 as in this crocus, it spreads into many rays like a 

 star. In many flowers it is covered with short 

 hairs, or with minute knobs, among which pollen- 

 grains may be caught and held fast. In the 

 orchids it is just a little surface of bare tissue. 

 But, whatever is its outward semblance, Nature 

 has prepared it to receive pollen by moistening 

 it with a sugary fluid, so that any grains which 

 touch it may adhere, and may germinate upon it. 



Directly a speck of the life-giving dust settles 

 down on the stigmatic surface it begins to do its 

 appointed work there. In most instances the thin 

 inner coat of the little bag swells up at one place 

 into a hump, which thrusts itself through one of 

 the holes in the outer case, or pushes off one of 

 the lids, or, it may be, forces its way outward 

 through a thin spot (Fig. 3$). The hump grows 

 bigger, becoming a sac, and, at last, a tube, 

 which, in some flowers, attains a length of several 

 inches. This tube grows downward into the sub- 

 stance of the pistil, much as a strong rootlet 

 burrows into rich light soil. 



