14 AS CALIFORNIA FLOWERS GROW 



making parts, so, as soon as the direct sunshine 

 leaves her, the petals wrap themselves closely around 

 the center. As the flower grows older, you will 

 notice the individual petals curling at nightfall 

 around the stamens attached to them. This means 

 that the pistil has been fertilized, but there is still 

 a bountiful supply of good pollen to be dispensed. 

 It is only after her pollen has been all discharged 

 and her ovules fertilized that Poppy exposes her 

 heart to the shade, and then only for a brief period. 

 Soon she casts each satiny petal aside so that the 

 sunshine can pour directly on the seed-case and 

 ripen its contents. 



If you pick off a petal, you see that some' stamens 

 come with it. The stigma does not come off, not 

 even when the seeds are fertilized. Watch a seed- 

 case develop. See the veins running up and down. 

 See the stigma forming the flat cap on its top. How 

 does Mrs. Poppy get her seeds dispersed? Take a 

 ripe pod in your hand and shake it. Little black 

 seeds scatter around. How do they get out? Look 

 under the rim of the cap between each vein. Poppy 

 believes in a pepper-shaker style of seed-case, so that 

 the gentlest zephyr will distribute some seeds; but 

 she discovered early that if she put the holes in the 

 top of the box, the rain and fog would seep in and 

 destroy her precious children. But there! That 

 rim of the stigma cap makes a protective roof, and 



