THE BEE AND THE 



53 



stigma. Many flowers have but one stigma of the form of a 

 knob. The short stem between the ovary and the stigmas is the 

 style. Standing around this pistil are a number of little bodies 

 bearing orange-colored dust. The dust is the pollen and the 

 bodies with their stems are the stamens. 



Now the great fact about the 

 flower is that the seeds will 

 never form into good seeds un- 

 less pollen gets on the stigmas 

 and its grains grow down thru 

 the style and find and touch a 

 part of the minute beginnings 

 of seeds in the ovary. This is 

 called fertilization. Pollen must 

 get to the stigma. 



Thus it is seen that the stam- 

 ens and pistils are all important 

 parts of the flower. The other 

 parts of the flower are the corolla 

 and calyx. The corolla in the 

 poppy is the orange-colored showy part which surrounds the 

 stamens and pistil. Its separate pieces are called petals. The 

 catyx is the green cap which comes off as the flower bud opens. 

 The uses of these parts are to be learned later. All these parts 

 are of different forms in the different kinds of flowers. In many, 

 the reason of the particular form can be discovered and thus be 

 a constant source of nature study lessons, as will be shown as we 

 proceed. 



Another fact of great importance is that in most flowers the 

 pollen can not get to the stigma of the flower in which it grows. 

 Either it does not ripen at the same time with the stigma, or there 

 is some contrivance to keep the pollen away from the stigma of 

 its own flower. Pollen from one flower reaches the sti bxjma of 



Fig. 27. A single flower of the com- 

 mon blue-and white lupine, (Lupinus 

 bicolor). The upper part is the signal, 

 the lower part is the boat-shaped plat- 

 form which encloses the part shown in 

 fig. 28. 



