The Flower. 103 



perfect or unisexual (u'-ni-sex'-ual).* Flowers of the 

 latter class are called monoecious when the stamen-bear- 

 ing (staminate (stam'-i-nate) ) and pistil-bearing (pis- 

 tillate (pis'-til-late) ) flowers are both produced on the 

 same plant, and dioecious when produced on different 

 plants only, as in the hop and date. In a few plants, 

 as the strawberry (154) and asparagus, some individu- 

 als produce perfect, and some imperfect flowers. 



154. Planting with Reference to Pollination is im- 

 portant in certain plants. All dioecious plants (153) 

 intended for seed or fruit must have staminate and pis- 

 tillate plants growing 

 near together or they 

 will not be productive. 

 The hop plant, persim- 

 mon and date palm are 

 of this class. . ^^ ^ 



The flowers of many s'lo. 56. fig. 57. 



„ . 1 . ^^<^- 56. Imperfect flower of the 



or our most productive strawberry. 



. . ■ Fig. 57. Perfect flower of same, 



varieties or strawberry The numerous plstlls appear In a 



. circular mass at the center, around 



yield little or no pollen which the stamens are seen. 



and are unproductive, unless growing near pollen-bear- 

 ing 'sorts (Figs. 56, 57). In many varieties of Ameri- 

 can plums and in certain varieties of the pear and 

 apple, the pollen, even though produced freely, is in- 

 fertile on stigmas of the same variety. To insure fec- 

 undation, it is wise to mingle varieties in fruit planta- 

 tions rather than to plant large blocks of a single 

 variety. 



* The terms hermaphrodite, unisexual and bisexual, though often 

 applied to flowers, are inaccurate. 



