98 



BRITISH FLOWEKING PLANTS 



pistil is peculiar, the base of the style not being straight 

 as usual, bu1? thin and bent (Fig. 58). The stigma, st, 

 is the enlarged end of the pistil, and shows several 

 small fleshy projections. It will be obvious from the 

 above description that when a bee visits the flower its 

 head will come in contact with and shake the stigma, 

 thus opening, as it were, the box containing the pollen, 

 and allowing it to fall on the head of the bee. It is 

 thus carried away, and some can hardly fail to be 



/ 





Fig. G1.— Viola canina. a, bud of cleistogamous flower ; i, older bud ; 

 G, capsule open. 



deposited on the stigma of the next violet which the 

 bee visits. The capsules are pendent when young, but 

 at maturity they erect themselves (Fig. 61, c), stand up 

 boldly above the rest of the plant, and open by the 

 three equal valves (Fig. 59) resembling an inverted 

 tripod. Each valve contains a row of three, four, or 

 five brown, smooth, pear-shaped seeds, slightly flattened 

 at the upper, wider end. The two walls of each 

 valve, as they become drier, contract and approach one 

 another, thus tending to squeeze out the seeds. These 

 resist some time, but at length the attachment of the 



