200 Blossom and Seed 



in some plants — as, for instance, the white lily — that it 

 may be taken oJEf ; and if then a few grains of pollen 

 from the anther be sprinkled upon it, we shall see that 

 these will in about half an hour begin to swell and 

 grow. Each grain will put forth a slender tube, very 

 minute, of course ; but in an hour or two it will have 

 lengthened out, and the fluid contained in the pollen- 



Throwing out the Pollen Tube. 



grain may be seen passing down one side of the tube 

 and up the other. Pollen-grains may also be grown in 

 a solution of gum or sugar. 



Now this is exactly what takes place when pollen 

 falls upon the sticky stigma at the tip of the pistil, only 

 that instead of growing in an objectless way, each grain 



