18 Southern Gardener^s Practical Manual 



COD tain, besides the petals or the ornamental part, the 

 stamens, or male organs, and the j^istil (or pistils), the 

 female organ. 



The stamens are composed of two parts, the stem or 

 filament on the end of which is a little sack or anther 

 containing a fine powder or pollen, which is necessary to 

 fertilize the pistil or vitalize the ovules or embryo seed. 

 The pistil is also composed of two parts, the stem, or 

 style, and the stigma. The latter, which rests upon the 

 upper end of the style, is divided into lobes correspond- 

 ing in number with the compartments of the ovary, the 

 enlarged body upon which the pistil rests and with which 

 it communicates. The pollen -granules fall upon the 

 stigma, which is covered with a retentive gummy sub- 

 stance. 



These granules vegetate and communicate, through the 

 filament, with the ovules, and vitalize them. The ovary 

 (egg-bag) contains the ovules (little eggs), or embryo 

 seed. In the okra, the edible pod is the ovary, as is the 

 fruit of the eggplant, the bean pod, etc. Plants bearing 

 hisexual, or perfect flowers are capable of producing seed 

 without external aid, as all necessary parts are present 

 in each flower. Such seed, how^ever, cannot always be 

 depended upon to reproduce the variety of plant on 

 which they grow on account of the visitation of insects, 

 which carry the pollen from flower to flower and thus 

 cross-fertilize the pistils. 



Monoecious plants. — All plants do not bear perfect 

 flowers, but many have the male organ, or stamen, and 

 the female organs, the pistil, ovary and ovules, in different 

 flowers on the same plant. This is illustrated in the 



