THE MANGO 119 



the disk is surmounted by a globose-oblique ovary 1 millimeter 

 broad, with a slender lateral style about 2 millimeters high. 

 To one side and inserted upon the disk is the single fertile 

 stamen, composed of a slender subulate filament about 1.5 

 millimeters long, surmounted by an oval purplish red anther 

 0.5 millimeter long, which dehisces longitudinally. Occasionally 

 two such stamens are produced. The whorl is completed by 

 staminodes of varying prominence, short and subulate in some 

 varieties, larger and capitate in. others, some even becoming 

 fertile and producing a few pollen-grains. In the staminate 

 flower the ovary is wanting. 



Several writers have affirmed that the mango is largely if not 

 solely wind-pollinated. It seems evident, however, that it 

 has none of the characteristics of an anemophilous plant, but, 

 on the other hand, presents well-developed adaptations to 

 insect pollination. In anemophilous or wind-pollinated flowers, 

 the pollen is usually abundant in order to compensate for the 

 enormous loss in transport; the pollen-grains are dry and in- 

 coherent, so that they may easily be carried by the wind ; and 

 the stigmas are commonly bushy and freely exposed, so as to 

 have every chance of catching the floating grains. The mango 

 shows none of these adaptations. It produces comparatively 

 few pollen-grains, often not more than 200 or 300 to an anther. 

 These grains show a decided tendency to cling together, espe- 

 cially in damp weather; and even in dry sunny weather it is 

 difficult to dislodge them with a strong draft of air. The stigma 

 is small and not provided with projections of any sort to assist 

 in catching pollen. 



The production of nectar for the attraction of insects also 

 indicates that the mango is entomophilous. Observations 

 have shown that the flowers are visited by numerous insects 

 of the orders Diptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, and Coleop- 

 tera, ranking in the order given as to the number of visits. 

 Pollen-grains have been observed adhering to the bodies of many 

 species belonging to these orders. 



