48 



POLLEN. 



Not only the more conspicuous parts of the tiower, hut 

 the very pollen-grains have every conceivahle tint ; the 

 most connnon are cream color, yellow, white, i)urple, ])lue, 

 green, snuff-brown, and chlorotic or colorless. 



Agapanthus, a purple lily, has very blue anthers and 

 very yellow pollen ; Red Azalea has a black-purple anther 

 containing white pollen ; Calla Lily has a bright yellow 

 spadix and snow-white pollen ; Cannabis sativa, anther 

 green, pollen pure white ; Prenanthes alba, anther black, 

 pollen pale yellow ; Lobelia cardinalis, anther Ijlue-purple, 

 pollen sul[)hur-yeliow . 



In examining the color of the pollen of one hundred dif- 

 ferent sjjecies of flowers, the greatest numl)er was found to 

 be yellow, but nearly as many white, and one-half as many 

 purple, the others scattering, all bemg in about the same 

 ratio as found in the colors of the i)etals, though often 

 varying from them. 



We will merely allude to other minute organs having dif- 

 ferent colors developing in different ways, as hairs, glands, 

 etc., viz. : The hairs growing on the lower side of the green 

 leaf of Cineraria and other plants are often pur[)le or red, 

 and the white glandular hairs on Azalea viscosa have little 

 red knobs on the ends ! 



While green is generally more primar}^ than yellow, it is 

 not always the original or most primitive. Any color may 

 precede and be entirely independent of chlorophyl-green, as 

 may be seen in examining roots, bulbs, root-stalks and 

 sprouting stems, also fungi, all of Avhich have colors arising 

 directly from the structural or chlorotic white of the em- 

 bryo, without any special order of development. 



Familiar exami)les : Beet : roots, stems, etc., red ; Carrot, 

 reddish yellow ; Parsnips, from cream color to pale yellow ; 

 Turnips, with purple to[)s and yellow turnii)s with puri)le 



