74: POLLEN. 



a. Fig. 88 represents, as seen under a ^ Fig.^ss. 



magnifier, at a^ a grain of pollen of one 

 of the Mallows-like plants ; it is globu- 

 lar, liispid ; at h the grain of pollen is 



four-lobed ; this belongs to the Orchis 

 family ; at <? is the pollen of the Aster ; 

 at d is the pollen of the Hibiscus, globu- 

 lar, muricated ; at c is the pollen of the 



I^asturtium, angular. At f is the three-lolled pollen of the 

 honeysuckle. 



1). When the pollen bursts the anther it is scattered, and 

 coming in contact with the moist stigma is absorbed, and passes 

 through minute tubes into the ovary ; here are the ovules form- 

 ed, but they require the agency of the pollen to bring them to 

 the perfection necessary for reproducing their species. We 

 perceive why the stamens and pistils are so essential to the 

 perfection of a plant. Nature does not form a beautiful flower, 

 and then leave it to perish without any provision for a future 

 plant, but in every vegetable provides for the renewal of the 

 same. 



c. The real use of stamens and pistils was long a subject of drs^ute among philoso- 

 phers, till Linnffius explained it beyond a possibility of doubt. These organs have 

 from the most remote antiquity been considered of great importance in perfecting 

 the fruit. The Date palm, which was cultivated by the ancients, bears stamens 

 and pistils on separate trees ; the Greeks discovered that, in order to have good 

 fruit, it was necessary to plant the two kinds of trees near together, and that with- 

 out this assistance the dates had no kernel, and were not good for food. In the 

 East, at the present day, those who cultivate palms select trees with pistillate 

 flowers, as these alone bear fruit. When the plant is in blossom, the peasants 

 gather branches of the wild palm-trees with staminate flowers, and strew the 

 pollen over their cultivated trees. 



d. Pistillate flowers are called /i"r^//e; staminate, in/er^i/e flowers. As moisture 

 causes the pollen to explode, rains and heavy dews are sometimes injurious to 

 plants • tlie farmer fears wet weather while liis corn is in blossom. Nature has 

 kindly (jrdcred that most flowers sliould either fold their petals together, or hang 

 down tlieir heads when the sun does not shine ; thus protecting the pollen from 

 injury. The fertilization of the fig is said to be accomplished by insects. In this 

 singular plant the fruit incloses the flower ; it is at first a hollow receptacle, lined 

 witli many flowers, seldom both stamens and pistils in the same fig. This recep- 

 tacle has a small opening at the summit. The seeds are fertilized by certain littlo 

 flies fluttering from one fig to the other, and thus can-ying tlie pollen from the 

 staminate to the pistillate flowers. Although the fertilization of plants, where the 

 stamens and pistils are on separate flowers, depends a little upon chance, the favor- 

 able chances are so numerous that it is hardly possible, in the order of nature, that 

 a pistillate plant should remain unfertilized. The particles of the pollen are light 

 and abundant, and tlie butterflies, honey-bees, and other insects transport them 

 from flower to flower. The winds also assist in executing the designs of nature 

 The pollen of the Pines and Firs, moved by winds, may be seen rising like a cloud 

 above the forests ; the particles being disseminated, fall upon the pistillate flowers, 



a. Describe the figure — h. Use of tlie pollen in the vegetable economj' — c. Real use of the stamens 

 and pistils luiknowii till the time of Linnius — Cultivation of plants in the East — d. Fertile and infertile 

 flowers — Fertilization of tlie fig — Various nielhode by which nature conveys pollen to the j)istillat8 

 plants. 



