18 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



The flower has a short stalk, which widens out into the long 

 inferior ovary, upon which the calyx, corolla, stamens, and style 

 are seated. The ovary is four-angled. Its upwardly directed 

 surface is frequently of a pink colour, while the lower face is green. 

 Like the flower-stalk, its surface is covered with very short white 

 hairs. The calyx consists of four narrow pointed sepals, deep 

 pink within and brownish-pink on the outside. One of the sepals 

 stands in the middle line at the back of the flower. In the bud 

 the sepals join edge to edge, and completely protect the parts 

 within. The corolla consists of four petals, which alternate with 

 the sepals and thus stand diagonally in the flower. Each petal 

 has a narrow stalk-like base, widening out into an almost circular 

 portion of a rose-pink colour. When fully open the flower is a 

 very conspicuous one. 



Within the petals we come to the eight stamens forming two 

 whorls, though this is only evident in the order of opening of 

 the anthers. Each filament bears a large red anther, which on 

 opening reveals the bluish-green pollen. The lower portions of 

 the filaments are slightly broader and flatter than the upper 

 portions. They stand closely, edge to edge, around the base of 

 the style, and serve to protect the nectar, which is secreted by the 

 upper surface of the ovary. The nectar is visible as a glistening 

 fluid on the surface of the green nectary if some of the stamens 

 are carefully removed. It will be evident that, while the nectar 

 is protected from injury by rain, access to it is easy between 

 the stalks of the stamens. In the centre of the flower is the 

 style, springing from the inferior ovary. The style is short and 

 cylindrical, and bears at the summit a large four-lobed stigma. 

 The lowest part of the style around which the nectar accumulates 

 is smooth, but above this comes a region clothed with hairs which 

 complete the enclosure and protection of the nectar. The smooth 

 outer surface of each lobe of the stigma has the same pink colour 

 as the rest of the flower, while the receptive inner face is rough 

 and white. 



When the flower first opens (Fig. 5, 2) the style bends down- 

 wards, and the lobes of the stigma are still closed together. The 

 stamens which stand up in the centre of the flower then open, 

 the outer four shedding their pollen before the inner ones. During 



