30 LEAVES, FLOWERS, AND FRUIT 



there are two to four cells to hold the pollen ; in a lilac 

 blossom, where there are but two stamens, a careless glance 

 might lead one to say there were four. The occasional 

 growing together of stamens must be noted. 



A few words about the pistil and its many peculiarities. 

 One should get the habit of seeing the pistil in flowers. 

 It is the central part of the flower and has at its bottom 

 the fruit-forming part (ovary) and at the top the stigma, 

 where the pollen is received. Some flowers contain more 

 than one pistil from stigma to ovary ; most have but one 

 ovary, and whatever it may have of stigmas, to represent 

 parts from which it was formed, they are all united at the 

 bottom into one fruit-forming part. The counting of 

 stigmas, when required, is easy. 



There is one very useful word which is often applied in 

 this book and also in other manuals, — the word is sessile, 

 and it means without any stem or stalk. Petals, anthers, 

 stigmas, whole flowers, and even clusters of flowers may be 

 sessile. Leaves and blades of leaves may be sessile. Ber- 

 ries, pods, and all kinds of fruits may be sessile. Now any 

 of these parts of a plant may have a stalk or stem and thus 

 not be sessile. The work of invention that has been be- 

 stowed on stalks to name each and every one differently 

 so well illustrates how scientists in making the language 

 of description exact have made it difficult to become the 

 language of the people that I am tempted here to give 

 some of these stalk names. 



Petiole — ■ the stalk of a leaf. 



Peduncle — the stalk of a solitary flower or a cluster of 

 flowers if attached above ground on a plant. 



Scape — for the same stalk if it rises out of the 

 ground. 



Pedicel — the stalk of a flower in a cluster of flowers. 



Filament — the stalk of an anther. 



Stipe — the stalk of a pod, fern leaf, or mushroom. 



Olaw — the stalk of a petal. 



