30 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



has a pistil which hangs outward and downward, appa- 

 rently out of reach of the pollen. The anthers rise up and 

 shoot it out like little guns, one after the other, at the 

 stigma of the flower 



Nettles also have beautiful elastic filaments for scattering 

 the pollen on the pistil, which is in a separate flower. 

 Many plants have these organs thus separated, but pro- 

 vision is ever made for their union, as in the case of our 

 cucumbers, where bees and flies carry the pollen from one 

 flower to the other. 



SEEDS. 



Having said a little on the beginning of the seed in the 

 ovary, we shall be prepared to look 'at the seeds themselves 

 with greater interest. Here also we have an endless variety 

 of beautiful microscopic objects : 



POPPY SEEDS, 



viewed as opaque objects, show a reticulated surface ; 



SWEET-WILLIAM SEEDS, 



oblong and dotted ; 



SILENE, OR STELLARIA, 



beautifully fretted and sculptured 



Foxglove 



ohn's Wort 



Saxifrage 

 Geranium 

 Anagallis 



Portulaca 



Passion-flower 



Begonia 



Scropularia 



Hyoscyamus. 



Look at all these ; and, above all, get a prepared slide of 

 the exquisite 



ORCHIS SEEDS. 



They are like little net-purses, with the seed in them : the 

 loose net is the skin or cuticle of the seed. 



