Hillside. 1 29 



What strange little blossoms this plant has ! The sepals 

 of the calyx are inconspicuous ; the corolla is formed of tiny 

 white petals, and there are five stamens and a two-lobed 

 pistil. There is no chance of the plant being self-fertilised. 

 Count the stamens one, two, three, four, five. Before they 

 mature they are bent towards the centre of the flower ; then 

 in alternate order 1, 3, 5, 2, 4 the filaments gradually 

 curve backwards until the anthers, each in succession 

 disappearing between two petals, are curved outside the 

 flower. Here is a flower in which all five stamens have 

 been twisted down, the anthers falling between and outside 

 the petals. Not until they reach the outside of the petals 

 do the anthers dehisce and shed their pollen. At this time 

 the pistil is undeveloped and the styles are bent down- 

 wards, so that it is utterly impossible for the pistil to be 

 fertilised by the pollen from its own flower. But when the 

 stamens have discharged their pollen, the points of the 

 stigma grow upwards, become sticky, and rapidly mature 

 sufficiently to receive the pollen. But by this time the 

 pollen from the stamens of the same flower has all vanished ; 

 hence the pistil must receive pollen from some other 

 flower, if fertilisation is to take place, and this is called 

 "cross-fertilisation." It will be noticed, then, that the 

 flower is at first exclusively male or staminate, and after- 

 wards exclusively female or pistillate, although both sets of 

 organs are produced in the same flower. 



Emerging from the chalk pit we cross the hop garden by a 

 footpath, and walk in the shade of a copse bordering its' 

 opposite side. We soon come to a road at right angles to 

 our direction, and on the left Ranscombe Farm appears in 

 sight. The masses of bramble blossom and growing berries 



