SOME PLANT MARRIAGES 



453 



bodies, especially in 

 their recesses, where 

 they rest like ships 

 in harbour. When 

 the little craft hap- 

 pens to get stranded 

 in the recesses of a 

 female Vallisneria 

 flower, they adhere 

 to the trilobed stig- 

 ma, and some of the 

 pollen-cells are sure 

 to be left sticking to 

 the fringes on the 

 margins of the stig- 

 matic surf ace s." 

 Pollination having 

 been thus effected, 

 the pedicel of the 

 fertilized flower con- 

 tracts spirally and 

 the ovary descends 

 to the bottom of the 

 water to perfect its 

 seeds. 



We come now to 

 the anemophilous or 

 wind-pollinated 

 plants. Most of our 

 forest trees, and the 

 grasses, are exam- 

 ples of this group. 

 AVind is far more ex- 

 tensively employed 

 as a pollen-carrier than water, but, is not so busy an agent as insects. 

 Flowers which lay themselves out for wind-pollination are characterized 

 by abundance of smooth and dusty pollen ; by stigmas specially adapted 

 for catching and retaining it; and, as we have seen, by an absence of 

 bright-coloured floral envelopes, perfumes, and honey. " The amount of 

 pollen produced by anemophilous plants," says Darwin, " and the distance 

 to which it is often transported by the wind are both surprisingly great. 

 Mr. Hassal found that the weight of pollen produced by a single plant 

 of the Bulrush (Typha) was 144 grains. Bucketfuls of pollen, chiefly 

 of (Joniferce and Graminete, have been swept off the decks of vessels near 



E. Step. 



FIG. 557. COTTON-GRASS (Eriophorum polystachion). 



The Co) ton-grasses are Sedge-like plants that cover vast areas of boggy moorland. The 

 " cotton " really consists of delicate bristles which represent the petals of other flowers. 



