84 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



husk enclosing six small nuts or seeds. But, in 

 fact, five of the cells are all but obliterated in the 

 forming fruit, which thus becomes one-celled and 

 one-seeded. 



But if we strip the shell off a mature acorn we 

 can generally see near its base three irregular 

 lobes, which are a reminiscence of the three 

 chambers of the young ovary. 



And between these lobes are the last vestiges 

 of the partitions which once completely trisected 

 the baby-acorn. 



The pistil of the maple blossom is a double af- 

 fair, with two styles, two stigmas, two ovaries, 

 and four ovules, two in each ovary; but the 

 winged twin-fruit which results from its develop- 

 ment contains but two seeds (Fig. 15). 



It is not unusual for atrophy to go still further 

 and for one-half of the double fruit to stop grow- 

 ing very early in the season, so that in the end 

 the fruit turns out to be an unsymmetrical thing, 

 with one side swelled into firmer and plumper pro- 

 portions, because nourishment has been withheld 

 from the other. 



In the acorns and horse-chestnuts which come 

 to maturity, the baby-plant is supplied with a 

 particularly rich and plentiful stock of starches on 



