124 



THE PARTS OF THE FLOWER 



J2. Coiupouud pis- 

 til of a St. John's- 

 wort. It has 5 ear- 

 pels. 



254. Stamens bear the pollen, which is made up of 

 grains or spores, each spore usually being a single plant 

 cell. The stamen is of two parts, as readily 

 seen in Figs. 187, 188, 189,— the enlarged 

 terminal part or anther, and the stalk or 

 filament. The filament is often so 

 short as to seem to be absent, and 

 the anther is then said to be 

 sessile. The anther bears the 

 pollen spores. It is made up 

 of two or four parts (known 

 as sporangia or spore -cases), which burst 

 and discharge the 

 pollen. When 

 the pollen is shed, 

 the stamen dies. 



255. Pistils hear 

 the seeds. The pis- 

 til may be of one 

 part or compart- 

 ment, or of many parts. The different units or parts of 

 which it is composed are carpels. Each carpel is homo- 

 logous with a leaf. Each 

 carpel bears one or more 

 seeds. A pistil of one carpel 

 is simple; of two or more 

 carpels, compound. Usually 

 the structure of the pistil 

 may be determined by cut- 

 ting across the lower or seed- 

 bearing part. Figs. 190, 191, 

 192 explain. A flower may 

 contain one carpel (simple 

 pistil) as the pea (Fig. 190) ; 

 several separate carpels or 



Knotweed, a very common but inconspicuous plant 

 along hard walks and roads. Two flowers, en- 

 larged, are shown at the right. These flowers are 

 very small and borne in the axils of the leaves. 



The structure of a plum blossom. 

 se. sepals; p. petals; sta. stamens; 

 o. ovary; s. style; st. stigma. The 

 pistil consists of the ovary, style, 

 and stigma. It contains the seed 

 part. The stamens are tipped with 

 anthers, in which the pollen is 

 borne. The ovary, o, ripens into 

 the fruit. 



