388 



LIFE ON THE EARTH 



PINK GENTIAN 



Showing the anthers, which are covered with 

 pollen. 



and corolla being simply for protection or assistance. All 

 flowers do not have these four parts, but every flower has 



either stamen or pis- 

 tils or both. 



The anther pro- 

 duces a large num- 

 ber of little granular 

 bodies, called pollen 

 grains, each of which 

 consists of a free 

 cell containing proto- 

 plasm. When the 

 pollen grains are ripe, 

 the anther opens and 

 exposes them. If a 

 pollen grain of the right kind falls upon a stigma it grows and 

 sends down a tiny tube through the style into the ovary, 

 where a little proto- 

 plasmic cell, called the 

 egg cell, has been pro- 

 duced. The essential 

 parts of these two differ- 

 ent kinds of protoplasms 

 unite and a new cell is 

 formed. 



This new cell grows 

 and divides into more 

 cells, thus forming the 

 young embryo of a new 

 plant. This embryo is 

 the living part of the 

 seed and around it usu- MINT 



