WAYSIDE WEEDS. 57 



examiniiig blossom after blossom, as of course you 

 will do. This seed-bearing, seed-developing pistil 

 is composed of tbree parts — tbe ovary or seed*- 

 vessel, the style^ and the stigma. Of ,these, two 

 are essential, the stigma and the seed-vessel; but 

 the style, though usually present, may, apparently, 

 as in the poppy, where the stigma lies close upon 

 the top of the ovary, be dispensed with. Indeed^ 

 the style, like the filament of the stamen, appears 

 to be simply a mechanical addition to essential 

 parts, to fit them for their relative positions in the 



Fio. 41. — Pistil of Frimrose. k, etigm&j S, style; e, OfHTj. 



blossom. As you wiU find, in a future lesson, the 

 entire plant is covered with a thin skin, or epider- 

 mis, as it is called ; and only at one point is this 

 wanting, that point being the stigma of the pistil^ 

 which, instead of epidermis, is coated with a glu- 

 tinous matter, to which adhere the grains of pollen 

 as they are discharged from the anther. The 

 adhering grains convey to the ovules within the 

 seed-vessel the power of becoming perfect seeds, 

 for it is a rule, seemingly without exception, that 

 if there js no pollen, no seeds are formed. In the 



