Part 9

Your pretty leaves are the Corolla of the flower; the green ones form the Calyx; and the standards inside are Stamens and Pistils. We will take one at a time, and begin with the Calyx, although that, and the Corolla too, may be wanting in a plant, as they are not really necessary.

It seems as though the Corolla took care of the Stamens, and the Calyx protected the Corolla.

You are not far from the mark, my boy. But can you tell me whether the Corolla of a flower is always in one piece or not?

I should think not. I recollect some flowers with one pretty cup all round, while others are made up of a great many coloured leaves.

You must call those leaves Petals. Some plants have four petals in the form of a cross. Did you ever notice a pea blossom?

Yes, father, and thought it a funny one.

Just gather one and examine it. How many petals are there, and how are they placed?

There are five, but not all of the same size. There is a good upper one, two side ones, and two at the bottom, enclosing the rest of the flower.

That upper one is the standard, and the two at the sides are the wings. Could you describe the orchis, the wild flower of our bush?

I will try. There are six petals; three are bent backward, two are at the sides, and one opposite to the three is also bent backward. Is not honey found at the bottom of the corolla cup?

It is, in a place called the Nectary. I shall afterwards explain the object of the sweets. But we must hasten on to the Stamens. These generally arise from near the base of the petals.

Are they the ones with the yellow dust on the top?

They are, my lad. If you look at one, you will find a long thread or Filament, bearing a loose top, called the Anther, which carries the Pollen or yellow dust.

But why is not the pollen always to be felt on the anther?

Because it is shut up in cells at first. When the walls of these burst open, the pollen shows itself outside, and is also scattered about.

As things alter so strangely under the microscope, father, how would our dust look there?

No two plants have the same shaped pollen, which is of all possible forms. The tiny grains are generally each enclosed in a delicate bag, the subtle powder of which is more like smoke than anything else, in which are particles of starch or drops of oil.

But our orchis does not seem to have a regular anther, for the pollen looks all of a heap.

That is correct. But which do you fancy is the Pistil?

I don’t know, unless it be that in the middle surrounded by the stamens. This is a thread, too, with a knob at the top.

The support is the Style, and the summit is the Stigma. When you examine flowers you will observe the stigma of various shapes and sizes; but there is always a sticky substance on the top. Does the pistil rise from the same place as the stamens?

No, it comes from a lump at the bottom.

That lump is the Ovary, or seed basket, sometimes known as the Germen. Some botanists believe that the several parts of flowers are only metamorphosed, or changed leaves, and that the pistil is one of these growing vertically. You have seen in a double stock, or other double flower, that the stamens have grown into petals.

But why is it that the corolla falls off so soon? I have seen our garden beds strewn with blossoms, and yet the stamens and pistils keep on much longer.

But what happens when these go in their turn, Willie?

Why, the ovary, as you call it, swells out. But what makes the fruit?

That fleshy substance around the seeds, of which you are so fond, is merely the swollen Pericarp, or covering of the seed vessel. Children’s teeth should not go into the pericarp until the seeds are about ripe.

I know that. When a pear is nice and mellow, then the seeds within are quite hard. But would you call the pod of the pea a pericarp?