PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 



195 



Fig. 79— Flax Flower. 



Crossing and Hybridizing. — These terms are used by 

 many as meaning the same thing; strictly speaking, 

 hybridizing is when two distinct species are made to form 

 a union, while crossing is where the same takes place with 



varieties of the same spe- 

 cies. To make the matter 

 plain, we must give the struc- 

 ture of the flower. The organs 

 concerned in the production 

 of the fruit or seed are the 

 stamens, which correspond to 

 the male organs, and the 

 pistil or pistils, which are the 

 female organs. These two arc 

 for the most part in one 

 flower, and differ greatly in number in the different fami- 

 lies. The simplest case is where both kinds are in one 

 flower, as in Figure 79, which represents a flower of the 

 flax split down, to show the arrangement of its parts. 

 The central body is the pistil, and is surrounded by five 

 stamens, which are shorter. It will be seen 

 that each stamen is composed of two parts — 

 a slender portion, the filament, which bears 

 a two-lobed body, the anther, which produces 

 a fine fertilizing powder, the pollen. The 

 pistil has an enlarged base, the ovarii, which 

 contains the orates, which are to become 

 seeds; above this is usually a prolonged por- 

 tion, the style. The styles may be one or 

 several; in the case of the flax there are five, Fig. so— stamens 



, £ , . , . ,ii , • and Pistils. 



each one of which is surmounted by a stigma, 

 that part which receives the fertilizing powder, or pollen. 

 The stamens and pistils are not always found together 

 in the same flower. In Indian corn they are separated, 

 but on the same plant the tassel containing the stamens 



