282 



FLOWERS 



nous. They, and diclinous flowers generally, are pollinated 

 by wind. 



Note that if diclinous flowers are more ancient than 

 monoclinous ones, then cross-pollination is more ancient 

 than close-pollination, for the latter evidently could not 

 occur when all the flowers were either staminate or pistil- 

 late. 



The cat-tail is a common plant in marshes. (See Figure 

 70i.) Its flowers are about as simple as any. They have 

 no perianth and they are of the two kinds, staminate and 

 pistillate. That part of the plant which is supposed to 

 look like a cat's tail is composed of separate carpels and 

 stamens which grow very close together. The stamens are 

 on the upper part of the tail. They die after they have 



shed their pollen. You may 

 have noticed this dead part 

 sticking out of the top of a 

 mature cat-tail. 



Corn is another common 

 plant which has diclinous 

 flowers. The tassel of corn, 

 which appears at the top of 

 the plant, is composed of 

 staminate flowers (see Figure 

 102), while the undeveloped 

 ear is composed of pistillate 

 flowers. The threads of the 

 silk, which hang out from 

 the young ear, are nothing but unusually long styles and 

 stigmas. (See Figure 103.} Each style leads to an ovary. 

 These ovaries are the undeveloped grains of corn. Pollen 

 is produced in great abundance in the tassel. Some of it 



FIG. 102. The tassel of corn. Note 

 the hanging anthers which are full of 

 pollen. The pollen is scattered by 

 the wind. After Hunter. 



