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TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY 



stigma of the same pistil and pushes the ball of pollen down 

 into the hollow style — just as though she intended to make 

 sure of the pollination of that particular flower. When the 

 eggs hatch in the ovary of the flower, the young grubs eat 

 some of the seeds into which the ovules have developed ; 

 after a time, the grubs escape through holes that they make 

 in the ovary wall. 



The ovules, of course, would not have grown into seeds 

 if the flower had not been pollinated ; therefore, the pol- 

 lination by the mother moth insured 

 a supply of food for her young. But 

 the grubs eat only part of the many 

 seeds that the ovary contains. So 

 the plant secures a supply of seeds, 

 and in this way it also is benefited 

 by the visit of the moth. The 

 pollen of Yucca is not carried by 

 the wind ; and if the moth for any 

 reason does not visit the plant, no 

 seeds are formed. The same thing 

 is true if it is grown where the moth 

 does not live, as for example in 

 European gardens. 

 284. Pollination of the Fig. — The fig that we eat is not 

 a fruit, but the hollow end of a peduncle inside which was 

 borne a cluster of flowers. The arrangement of the flowers 

 is shown in Figure 163. It is the tissues of the hollow end 

 of the peduncle that become soft and juicy. In eating a fig 

 we bite many small, hard bodies ; these are the real fruits. 

 The flowers of the fig are of three kinds : staminate flowers, 

 pistillate flowers with long styles, and pistillate flowers with 

 short styles. Certain trees bear figs which when young con- 

 tain only long-styled pistillate flowers ; the figs borne on 

 other trees contain staminate flowers near the openings of 

 their sac -like cavities and short-styled pistillate flowers in 



Fig. 162. — A Yucca 

 flower ; the moth is forcing 

 a mass of pollen into the 

 cavity of the style. After 

 Kerner. 



