Fiar. 38.— FEMALE, OR 

 PISTILLATE FLOWER 

 OF THE STKAWBEIiKY. 



feroiit flowers, and even on difFerent trees, has created the 

 necessity for the followmg distinctions : 



Trees or plants are called hermaphrodite (as in fig. 34), 

 when both stamens and pistils are present on the same 

 flower. Nearly all our cultivated fruits are of this class. 

 Monoecious, when the male and female flowers are borne 

 on the same tree, as in the filbert flower (fig. 37, A, the 

 male, and B, the female flowers). 



Dioecious, when the male flowers are on one plant, and 

 the female on another. A familiar in- 

 stance, among cultivated plants, is the 

 hop. The straicberry is not truly dioe- 

 cious, but in many varieties we find the 

 stamens or male organs so incompletely 

 m»ki lP~ '•''evelo])ed (fig._38), that they are of no 

 ^^kw service in fructifying the flowers. Such 



varieties are termed pistillate, and we 

 l>lant near them varieties with an abund- 

 ance of tliese organs, strongly developed, as in fig. 39. 



3d. Impregnation. — The pi-oceas of impregnation is 

 effected in this way : When the flowers first open, the 

 pollen granules are contained within the 

 anther. In a short time, afler the flow- 

 er opens, tlie anther bursts, usually by 

 a longitudinal slit, and sometimes by 

 other kinds of opening, and the pollen 

 is let fall upon the stigma, or is carried 

 to it by means of the insects that fre- 

 quent the flowers in search of pollen 

 and honey. The stigma is furnished 

 with a glutinous, or sticky secretion, to which the pollen 

 adheres ; there it prolongs a minute tube, which penetrates 

 through the st jde of the pistil to the ovary, where it reaches 

 the ovule, and imjn-egnation takes place ; new cells are 

 formed within the ovule, which results in the production 

 of an embryo plant. 



Fiu'.oO.— HEKMAPHUO- 



DITE FLOWER OF TUE 



STRAWBEKUT. 



