Blossoming 181 



have pistils but no stamens and no pollen, and 

 cannot do their work unless insects come to help 

 them. 



No seed can be formed without the ovule and 

 the pollen, and so the pistil, which shelters the 

 ovule, and the stamens, which produce and shed 

 the pollen, are called the " essential organs " of 

 the flower. The pretty white or colored petals 

 which catch our eyes, and may seem to us the 

 flower itself, are merely its garments. 



Any flower which relies on insects to fetch and 

 carry pollen for it must attract the notice of its 

 little winged friends by color, or whiteness, or 

 fragrance. And most of the flowers which depend 

 upon the help of insects pay their messengers with 

 drops of nectar. 



The cherry blossom charms the passing fly or 

 bee by a pretty show of white flower leaves — the 

 petals. 



Sometimes, as in the apple and cherry blossoms, 

 petals are separate. Sometimes, as in the catalpa 

 or trumpet-vine, they are all joined together into 

 a cup or tube. All the petals of a flower together 

 make up its " corolla " — or little crown. 



Outside the corolla, in a perfect flower, is the 

 " calyx " — or little cup. 



The calyx of the cherry blossom holds the pistil 

 in its depths, while the petals and the stamens are 

 arranged in a ring just inside its rim. 



The calyx of a flower cradles its tender inner 



