Crocuses 25 
This spot,—the stigmatic surface,—is the goal 
of the microspores. It is very various in its ap- 
pearance in different flowers. Sometimes it is a 
little knob, sometimes a small point, sometimes, 
as in this crocus, it spreads into many rays like a 
star. In many flowers it is covered with short 
hairs, or with minute knobs, among which pollen- 
grains may be caught and held fast. In the 
orchids it is just a little surface of bare tissue. 
But, whatever is its outward semblance, Nature 
has prepared it to receive pollen by moistening 
it with a sugary fluid, so that any grains which 
touch it may adhere, and may germinate upon it. 
Directly a speck of the life-giving dust settles 
down on the stigmatic surface it begins to do its 
appointed work there. In most instances the thin 
inner coat of the little bag swells up at one place 
into a hump, which thrusts itself through one of 
the holes in the outer case, or pushes off one of 
the lids, or, it may be, forces its way outward 
through a thin spot (Fig. 34). The hump grows 
bigger, becoming a sac, and, at last, a _ tube, 
which, in some flowers, attains a length of several 
inches. This tube grows downward into the sub- 
stance of the pistil, much as a strong rootlet 
burrows into rich light soil. 
