94 THE FLOWER AND ITS PARTS 



The Pistil and Its Parts The columnlike part in the 

 center of the flower is called the pistil. This, also, con- 

 g sists of three principal parts. (Figure 51.) 

 The enlarged top is called the stigma; the 

 i egg-shaped base is called the ovary; and the 

 slender part connecting the stigma and the 

 ovary is called the style. The ovary con- 

 tains a smaller egg-shaped part, called the 

 ovule, which may later become the seed. 

 Many flowers have more than one pistil, and 

 F t?i |f'~wnd man y ovaries contain more than one ovule. 

 (S* 1 "***??; The pistil forms and protects the ovules 

 tig. stUma? 5 until they become seeds. 

 Pollination. When the pistil is mature, a drop of a 

 sticky liquid forms on the stigma, so that a grain of pollen 

 that happens to touch it sticks fast. If the pollen grain 

 is from the same flower as the pistil, or from another 

 flower of the same kind, it puts out a long tube that 

 grows through the style into the ovary, where it comes in 

 contact with the ovule, after which the ovule grows into 

 a seed. (Figure 52.) The alighting of the pollen on 

 the stigma is called pollination. If no pollen grain of 

 the same kind alights on the stigma, the ovule does not 

 become a seed, but, after a time, it perishes. 



Bees and Insects Aid in Pollination Bees and some 

 other insects visit flowers to get honey or pollen from 

 them which they use as food. In entering the flowers, 

 they become more or less dusted with the pollen, and, 

 as they rub against the stigma, they aid much in pollina- 

 tion. These insects help flowers to form fruit or seeds, 

 and so their visits to the flowers are very useful. 



