58 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



There are vast numbers of flowers which ripen 

 their stamens and their pistils at different times — a 

 simple scheme distinguished by the clumsy name of 

 "dichogamy." Such flowers are just as certain to 

 be cross-fertilised as if they were separate staminate 

 or pistillate flowers; which, in fact, they are, with 

 the economic advantage that no flower is sterile. 

 The scheme is simple and its purpose obvious to 

 us; yet it formed the greatest stumbling-block in 

 the path of true knowledge of this subject and 

 wrecked the beautiful theory of Sprengel. 



JVIany more flowers conform to this system than 

 we at first suspect, and I wish to point out ways for 

 recognising them. 



We can see at a glance if the anthers are produc- 

 ing pollen, but not always can we tell if the stigma 

 be mature. In some cases the stigma separates into 

 two or more divisions, when it is ripe and ready to 

 receive the pollen and transmit to the ovules the 

 life-giving impulse. This we see in the flower of the 

 wild geranium. 



Other pistils, however, on maturing show no 

 change of form, but become slightly furry, or sticky 

 — as in the lilies — to hold fast the pollen grains ; and 

 in order to ascertain whether these pistils be ripe 

 we must make a little experiment. 



Choosing a stamen whose anthers are covered 

 with pollen, we pull it out of the flower by means 



