28 
THE GARDEN OF THE WORLD 
Pollen is the yellow powder that comes off 
on your fingers if you rub them across a flower. 
The part of the flower that holds the baby seeds 
is called the pistil . It usually has a sticky point 
called the stigma . The pollen must be put on 
to this stigma in order for it to get to the young 
seed. It might just happen to fall there, or 
the wind might blow it, but the sunflower can¬ 
not depend on such uncertain methods. If a 
bee, however, should walk across the flower, 
the pollen would stick to his hairy body, and 
then, when he rubbed against the sticky point of 
the stigma, it would be rubbed off again. There 
are so many stigmas close together on one sun¬ 
flower that one bee would pollinate a great 
many. This, then, is the very best way for the 
sunflower to have its seeds ripen, so it tries in 
every way to make itself attractive to bees and 
wasps. But the insects do not pollinate the 
flower just to help it out. They want some¬ 
thing for themselves. What they are after is 
the pollen. They eat it and feed it to their 
young. The sunflower has a great deal more 
