4 BULLETIN 542, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
E 
ovary 1 millimeter broad, with a slender lateral style about 2 milli- 
meters high. To one side and inserted upon the disk is the single 
fertile stamen, composed of a slender subulate filament about 1.5 
millimeters long, surmounted^ by an oval, purplish red anther 0.5 
millimeter long, which dehisces longitudinally. (PL II.) Occasion- 
ally two such stamens are produced. The whorl is completed by 
staminodes of varying prominence, short and subulate in some 
varieties, larger and capitate in others, some even becoming fertile 
and producing a few pollen grains. In the staminate flower the 
ovary is wanting. 
ANTHESIS AND LIFE OF THE FLOWER. 
An thesis may take place at any time of the day or night, but it 
seems to be most frequent early in the morning. Usually a large 
number of buds will be seen to be opening about 6 or 7 o'clock and 
if the weather is clear the petals will be fully expanded and the 
anthers dehisced by noon. On exceptionally warm, bright days 
the anthers sometimes dehisce before the petals are fully expanded. 
Other flowers may open later in the day, and a few during the night. 
The stigma has every appearance of being in a receptive condition 
immediately after anthesis, and in favorable weather retains its fresh 
appearance for about two days. At the end of this time the pistil 
usually commences to turn brown toward the stigmatic end, and the 
ovary may commence to swell and assume a darker green color. 
In many flowers, however, the ovary swells but little, the flower 
drying up and falling off on the third or fourth day. 
In flowers which have opened before noon, the pollen usually 
remains clinging to the anther for several hours, gradually being 
brushed off by insects or eventually falling. Sometimes much pollen 
will be left upon the anther until the second day. If the flower is 
staminate, usually it will shrivel and fall by the third day. Conditions 
seem to be vastly more favorable for pollination immediately after 
anthesis than at any later time, because of the larger amount of 
pollen present. No indications of heteracmy were observed, the 
stigma appearing to be receptive as soon as the flower opens, 
usually not more than an hour or two before the anther dehisces. It 
remains receptive for some time. 
POLLINATION. 
In spite of the close proximity of anther and stigma, the transfer 
of pollen from the former to the latter does not seem to be accom- 
plished easily. Both the stamen and the pistil retain an erect 
position throughout, and the pollen as it is shed usually falls upon 
the base of the ovary or upon the disk rather than upon the stigma. 
The normal method of transferring the pollen from the anther to 
the stigma must be through the agency of insects. The white, 
