94 THE DATE PALM. 



in the female flower-cluster and no tie is used. It may be noted 

 here that the placing of the male flower branches in the female 

 flower-cluster is not strictly speaking pollination, as insects or 

 winds have still to convey the pollen from these male flowers to 

 the stigmas of the female flowers. Date cultivators, however, 

 usually apply the term " pollination "or " hand-pollination " 

 to this act. 



61 . Fertilisation may be defined here as the fusion of certain 



of the contents of the pollen grain of the male 



its effects. flower with certain of those of the ovule of 



the female flower necessary to enable the ovule 



to develop into a seed. 



So far as I know, this process has not yet been followed in 

 the case of the date palm, but the generally accepted idea of how 

 fertilisation is effected in plants of this sort may be roughly 

 indicated as follows : 



When the tiny pollen grain reaches the stigma (receptive 

 portion of the carpel, see illustration No. 18, page I2d), it germi- 

 nates ; and absorbing food from the carpel, forms a long tube 

 which makes its way through the carpel tissues into the ovule 

 which the carpel contains. Two bodies termed gametes, 

 from the pollen grain, pass down this tube and enter the ovule. 

 One of these gametes fuses with a certain body (the ovum) in the 

 ovule, and the fused mass so formed now known as the oospore, 

 eventually gives rise to the tiny embryo (baby plant). The 

 other gamete from the pollen grain fuses with another body 

 (the definite nucleus) in the ovule, and this fused mass gives rise 

 to the hard tissue (endosperm) which forms the bulk of the seed. 



The baby plant while in the seed is a small whitish structure 

 little bigger than a pin-head. Its position is indicated by a small 

 circular depression about half way up the seed, on the surface 

 opposite the large longitudinal groove. Its size, shape, etc., can 

 be seen if the seed is split along that groove with a chisel or strong 

 knife (see illustration No. 32, opposite). As a result of fertilisa- 

 tion of the ovule, the carpel enclosing it becomes stimulated 



