172 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



The too familiar sand-bur, for instance, bears 

 spikelets which are each a pair of flowers, one with 

 both stamens and pistil, and one with stamens 

 only. The blossom of the rice has six stamens, 

 and a few grass-flowers have more than six. 



But generally and typically there are three, for the 

 grasses are distantly related to the lilies, and have 

 no connection whatever with the rose and her kin. 



The pistils of many grass-flowers do not mature 

 till the stamens round about them are empty and 

 shrivelled. 



But the wind which has carried off the home- 

 grown pollen will probably bring some to the wait- 

 ing stigma from a neighboring plume of the same 

 species of grass. 



Unless the wind thus makes restitution for the 

 goods he has snatched away, these grasses will bring 

 no fruit to perfection. But if they form seed the 

 young plants which spring from it will have the 

 advantage which double parentage gives the seedling 

 in its struggle for life. 



The anthers and stigmas of the wheat mature 

 together, but the flowers only expand partially, and 

 remain open for but a quarter of an hour. The 

 blossom appears from the glumes suddenly, scatter- 

 ing some not all of its pollen. 



