POLLEN. 
a. Fig. 88 represents, as seen under a 
magaifier, at a grain of pollen of one 
of the Mallows-like plants ; it is globu- 
lar, hispid ; at 5 the grain of pollen is 
four-lobed ; this belongs to the Orchis 
family ; at c is the pollen of the Aster ; 
at d is the pollen of the Hibiscus, globu- 
lar, muricated ; at e is the pollen of the 
Nasturtium, angular. At f is the three-lobed pollen of thf 
honeysuckle. 
h. When the pollen bursts the anther it is scattered, and 
coming in contact with the moist stigma is absorbed, and passes 
through minute tubes into the ovary ; here are the ovules form- 
ed, but they require the agency of the pollen to bring thein to 
the perfection necessary for reproducing their species. We 
perceive why the stamens and pistils are so essential to the 
perfection of a plant. ISTature does not form a beautiful flower, 
and then leave it to perish without any provision for a future 
plant, but in every vegetable provides for the renewal of the 
same. 
c. The real use of stamens and pistils was long a subject of dispute among philoso 
pheis, till Linnaeus explained it beyond a possibility of doubt. These organs have 
from the most remote antiquity been considered of great importance in perfecting 
the fruit. The Date palm, which was cultivated by the ancients, bears stamens 
and pistils on separate trees ; the Greeks discovered that, in order to have good 
fruit, it was necessary to plant the two kinds of trees near together, and that with 
out this assistance the dates had no kernel, and were not good for food. In the 
East, at the present day, those who cultivate palms select trees with pistillate 
flowers, as these alone bear fruit. When the plant is in blossom, the peasants 
gather branches of the wild palm-trees with staminate flowers, and strew the 
pollen over their cultivated trees. 
a. Pistillate flowers are called fertile ; staminate, infertile flowers. As moisture 
causes the pollen to explode, rains and heavy dews are sometimes injurious to 
plants ; the farmer fears wet weather while his corn is in blossom. Nature has 
kindly ordered that most flowers should either fold their petals together, or hang 
down their heads when the sun does not shine ; thus protecting the pollen from 
injury. The fertilization of the fig is said to be accompUshed by insects. In this 
singular plant the fruit incloses the flower ; it is at first a hollow receptacle, lined 
with many flowers, seldom both stamens and pistils in the same fig. This recep- 
tacle has a small opening at the summit. The seeds are fertilized by certain little 
flies fluttering from one fig to the other, and thus carrymg the pollen from the 
staminate to the pistillate flowers. Although the fertilization of plants, where the 
stamens and pistils are on separate flowers, depends a little upon chance, the favor- 
able chances are so numerous that it is hardly possible, in the order of nature, that 
a pistillate plant should remain unfertilized. The particles of the pollen are light 
and abundant, and the butterflies, honey-bees, and other insects transport them 
from flower to flower. The winds also assist in executing the designs of nature 
The pollen of the Pines and Firs, moved by winds, may be seen rising like a cloud 
above the forests ; the particles being disseminated, fall upon the pistillate flowers 
a. Describe the figure — 6. Use of the pollen in the vegetable economy — c. Real nse of the stamene 
»n() pistils unknown till the time of Linnaeus— Cultivation of plants in the East — d. PVrtile and infertila 
llawers — Feitilizaiion of the fig — Various methods by which na'ure conveys pollen to the pistillat* 
piants. 
