Blossoming 179 



in young flowers and brown in older ones. These 

 knobs are double pockets, and soon after the 

 flower opens, these split lengthwise and let out the 

 powder which they have held. 



The thread-like part of the stamen is a " fila- 

 ment." 



The powder pocket at its top is an " anther." 



The pollen which comes from the anthers of 

 flowers is far more precious than gold-dust, for 

 without it no seeds would be developed. 



Some bee or fly, seeking honey among the 

 cherry blossoms, and roving from branch to 

 branch in her search, will brush against a set of 

 anthers and be dusted with pollen. 



When she goes, all powdery, to another cherry 

 blossom, some of the grains which have been 

 clinging to her hairy body get rubbed off onto the 

 pistil of flower number two. 



The pistil-tip, or " stigma," is sticky, so that 

 the pollen which comes to it may be held and kept. 



The pollen grain, directly it arrives on this 

 little gummy place, begins to grow. A slender 

 tube comes out of it (Fig. 45), and this stretches 

 downward, inside the pistil, much as the rootlet 

 of a seedling grows down into a pot of earth. 

 Hidden away within the base of the pistil, shel- 

 tered and safe, there is a tiny green thing (ovule) , 

 which can develop into a seed some day. 



The tube pierces this half-made seed, and down 

 the tube passes an exceedingly tiny drop of jelly. 



