The Evergreen Rhododendrons 



long thin column tipped with a rounded knob the 

 style with its receptive stigma is thrust out ; perhaps, 

 too, a suggestion of yellow stamens can be seen within. 

 All together they act, and next day, perchance, the 

 great glorious head of flowers opens to its full beauty. 

 There is no admixture of buds and flowers in various 

 stages of development, as in the flowering currant, for 

 instance, to detract from the massed beauty; full and 

 complete, it all comes together, it all passes together. 



Each flower boasts a ring of five petals joined to 

 form a five-lobed bell. Their bases are hollowed into 

 five deep honey-pits which encircle the seed-case, the 

 uppermost one being particularly large and glistening 

 with the honey that oozes from a nectary that lies 

 round this seed-case. 



The stamens, with smallish yellow heads and with 

 filaments of varying length, project within the bell 

 and form a sort of platform. Through them, and 

 often longer than any, is the style-column from the 

 seed-case; occasionally, however, it is quite short. The 

 two pollen boxes that make up the head of each 

 stamen open by a circular orifice at the summit, and 

 out through it the sulphur-coloured pollen oozes, the 

 grains of the pollen being joined together into fours 

 by infinitesimal threads. Under a simple lens these 

 round holes and the issuing pollen can be very 

 distinctly seen. 



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