LEAVES, BUDS AND FLOWERS 



89 



Each grain of pollen is a single cell, which if fertile 

 (152) contains living protoplasm. The pollen is set 

 free at maturity. 



Fig. 46. Flower of the pea, 

 PisuTYi sativum. 



Fig. 47. — The same dissected, 

 showing variation in form of 

 the petals. 



144. The pistil. — The column-like part in the center 

 of the flower is called the 

 pistil. This also consists of 

 three principal parts, viz., the 

 enlarged flattened summit, '^^ < 

 called the stigma ; the egg- 

 shaped base, called the ovary ; 

 and the slender part connect- 

 ing the two, the style. The 

 ovary contains a smaller, 

 egg-shaped part, called the 

 ovule, which when developed 

 becomes the seed. Many fig. 48. Fig. 49. 



flowers have more than one fig. 48. — Stamens (««) and pistil 

 pistil, and many ovaries con- ^ °* t^e pea, Pisum sativum. 



. , , Fig. 49. — Pistil of the same alone. 



tarn more than one ovule. 



Recapitulating, the parts of the flower are, in the order 



we have considered them : 



