POLLINATION 111 



paint brush. Each of these small branches carries on 

 it a larger number of tiny flowers. 



"The small branches on the male flower cluster 

 are about six inches long, and if the cluster is shaken 

 about the time the spathe splits open, a dense cloud 

 of yellowish pollen dust will fall from it. On exam- 

 ination it will be seen that in every little flower 

 there are six little, yellowish pollen sacs, each on the 

 top of- a tiny stalk, and that it was the contents of 

 these little pollen sacs that formed the cloud of pollen 

 dust. Around the six little stalks with their pollen 

 sacs (stamens) are six colorless little scale-like struc- 

 tures which represent the sepals and petals in familiar 

 flowers. These scale-like sepals and petals close over 

 and protect the stamens until the pollen sacs have 

 matured their pollen grains and are ready to burst 

 and set the pollen free. Very soon after the large 

 brown spathe splits open, the scales (sepals and 

 petals) which covered and protected the stamens 

 open out and the pollen sacs burst. The opening of 

 the scales and the bursting of the pollen sacs are due 

 to the cells of their epidermal tissues drying and 

 contracting under the heat of the sun. The pollen 

 sacs are usually open within an hour or two after the 

 bursting of the spathe. 



"The spathe which encloses the female flower 

 cluster is very similar to that which encloses the male 

 cluster* and it bursts in the same way when the female 

 cluster is ready for fertilization. The small branches 

 of it are, however, less confined to the end of its 

 main axis and are very much longer than the small 



*Furthermore, the shapes of both vary according to the pressure 

 and distortion to which they have been subjected while emerging 

 from the palm. Therefore attempts to identify the sex of a palm by 

 the shape of an old spathe remaining on it are uncertain. 



