DICECIOUS PLANTS. 



26l 



utterly dissimilar ; the males {a, Fig. 51) are grouped in 

 drooping lines, called catkins, each containing some- 

 thing more than a hundred flowers, which come out 

 soon after Christmas, remain on the tree for a few 

 weeks, and then drop. But they have accomplished 

 their work, for the ten or twelve anthers each blossom 

 carries furnish abundant pollen, which, shaken by every 

 breeze, and being non-adhesive, gently falls through 

 the spreading branches below, where we may find 



Fig. 51.— Inflorescence of Nut. 



a, Staminate (Male) Catkin of Nut ; b, Pistillate (Female) Blossom of ditto 



c, Pistillate, Blossom, Unopened. 



small, hardly observable female flowers (6), consisting 

 of hairy, branched stigmas, crimson in colour, and 

 rising from amidst a few small scales, which con- 

 ceal the ovary. The stigmas catch the dropping 

 granules, the pollen tube is thrown out, and fertili- 

 sation follows, preceding, in order of time, the 

 expanding of the leaves, which would, if opened, 

 seriously impede the operation. The necessary 

 abundance of pollen, since so much is inevitably 



