THE WORK OF FLOWERS 121 



divides into two, and each of those two again into two 

 more. As the numbers thus increase, they remain 

 firmly pressed together, gradually taking shape as a 

 tiny living ovule. 



Next, the ovule has to grow into a seed. But the 

 pistil cannot manage the whole of this work alone. It 

 must have help. 



True, it has help already. There is the eager Life of 



FLOWER OF THE COMMON ASH. 



A STAMEN OF THE WALLFLOWER : /, filament ; a, anther ; p, pollen. 



VERTICAL SECTION OF THE OVARY OF THE BARBERRY : O, OVary ; OV, 



ovules attached to a projection called the placenta ; at, stigma ; a, anther. 



the Plant. There are the air and water and food, taken 

 into roots and stems, and worked into condition by 

 the green leaves. There is the great sun, shining down 

 by day, and giving that warmth without which no seed 

 could ever come into being. 



Yet these are not enough. Something else must 

 happen, if the ovule is ever to become a real seed; a 

 seed which shall have in it, not only life, but exactly 

 that kind of life which may grow later into the same 

 kind of plant as the one in which the seed itself grew. 

 Sunshine, and water, and air, and food, and the 



