44 
Garden Work 
wandering from flower to flower, carry the pollen on 
their head, body, or legs. Some of this pollen is rubbed 
off on the stigma of another flower, and pollinates it. 
Thirdly, the stamens, or anthers at their apex. Here are 
the pollen grains. These are formed inside the anther 
by a process of cell division, and, when matured, are 
more or less little round cells perfectly free. The anther 
bursts at a certain place, and this pollen lies in a mass 
awaiting the visits of bees, &c., which carry it away to 
A Bee Visiting a Flower 
feed their young. In going from flower to flower in 
search of nectar with which to make their honey, and 
pollen for their young, bees leave some of the latter behind 
on the stigmas of the flowers. If the stigma is matured, 
the little pollen grains germinate, like a flower seed, and 
send a little pollen tube down through the tissue of the 
stigma and style to the ovary, and hence to the ovules. 
The nucleus of the pollen grain unites with the nucleus 
of the ovule, which grows rapidly, and forms the seed. 
Fourthly, the gynaeceum, or ovary, at the base, which pro- 
duces the tiny ovules. These spring from the placenta, 
or certain parts of the walls of the ovary, and are covered 
with a double skin, which has a small opening at one 
end, the micropyle, through which the pollen tube enters. 
