ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF PLANTS. 239 



The object of the flower is solely directed to the production of 

 seed ; consequently its parts become gradually developed ; the sap 

 of the plant with other agents bring these to maturity, among which, 

 her solicitous care is to mature the stamen. As soon as maturity is 

 effected in this organ, the pollen is no longer moist, but of a subtle 

 nature, and being acted upon by heat or other causes, bursts forth 

 from the anther, and is dispersed upon the summit or sides of the 

 pistil, there to be submitted to the laws of vegetable life, and to 

 impregnate the embryo seeds in the germen. 



OF THE PISTIL. 



11. The pistil has already been represented as con- 

 sisting of the germen, style, and stigma. 



12. The germen or ovary consists at first of a simple 

 cellular structure, which, at a later period, assumes the 

 form of distinct cells ; but its shape, size and structure 

 differ in different plants. 



It is the part in which the seed is formed, and if you examine it, 

 in many plants, you will readily detect viscicles or small bladders, 

 which are, in fact, the rudiments of the seed, hereafter to be perfected 

 by the action of the pollen. 



13. The style is the part of the pistil situated upon 

 the germen, consisting of a small tube communicating 

 with the germen from the stigma. 



It is through the tube of the style, that the pollen passes from Ihe 

 stigma to fertilize the seed in the germen. It is not, however, 

 altogether essential to the formation of a perfect flower, as we have 

 before observed. 



14. The stigma, as described in the Elements of 

 Botany, is a small and glandular body situated at the 

 top of the pistil. 



