CHAPTER XVI 



The Pollination and Fertilization of Flowers 



One of the most striking features of the early spring 

 landscape in a fruit-growing region is that of the great 

 white masses of cherry blossoms. These are to be seen at 

 long distances wherever a cultivated cherry tree is growing. 

 If you will pick one of these blossoms and look at it care- 

 fully for a moment, you will be 

 able to see readily the various 

 parts of which each flower con- 

 sists. 



Hold the stem in one hand and 

 you will see a little green cup at 

 its upper end ; this cup is called 

 the receptacle. Around the outer 

 edges of the cup are five small 

 lobes ; these are called the sepals. 

 They are greenish and served to 

 protect the flower when it was a 

 bud. In front of the sepals and 

 between them are the five large 

 white petals, which make the flower conspicuous. Inside 

 the petals are many small pollen-bearing organs called 

 stamens ; each stamen consists of a sort of stalk ox filament 

 and a pollen bag or anther. Very likely the anther in 

 the specimen in hand will have broken open so that the 

 powdery pollen is plainly visible. In the center of the 

 flower is a single slender vertical object called the pistil. 



194 



Cherry Blossoms 



