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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
76
As
in
all
the
Compositae,
the
anthers
are
here
united
in
a
tube,
the
pollen
being
discharged
within.
At
the
base
of
this
anther-tube
rises
the
pistil,
which
gradually
elongates,
and
like
a
piston
forces
out
the
pollen
at
the
top.
Small
insects
in
creeping
over
the
cone
quickly
dislodge
it.
In
the
next
stage
the
anthers
have
withered,
the
flower-tube
elongated,
and
the
top
of
the
two-parted
pistil
begins
to
protrude,
and
at
length
expands
its
tips,
disclosing
at
the
centre
the
stigmatic
surface,
which
has
until
now
been
protected
by
close
contact.
(See
section.)
A
glance
at
Fig.
11
will
reveal
the
plan
involved.
The
ring
of
pollen
is
inevitably
scattered
to
the
stigmas
of
the
neighboring
flowers,
and
cross-fertilization
continually
insured.
Similar
contrivances
are
to
be
found
in
most
of
the
Compositae,
through
the
same
method
being
variously
applied.
Perhaps
even
more
remarkable
than
any
of
the
foregoing,
which
are
more
or
less
automatic
in
their
movements,
is
the
truly
astonishing
and
seemingly
conscious
mechanism
displayed
in
the
wild
arum
of
Great
Britain--the
"lords
and
ladies"
of
the
village
lanes,
the
foreign
counterpart
of
our
well-known
jack-in-the-pulpit,
or
Indian-turnip,
with
its
purple-streaked
canopy,
and
sleek
"preacher"
standing
erect
beneath
it.
A
representation
of
this
arum
is
shown
in
Fig.
12,
and
a
cross
section
at
A,
properly
indexed.
How
confidently
would
the
superficial--nay,
even
careful--examination
of
one
of
the
old-time
botanists
have
interpreted
its
structure:
"How
simple
and
perfect
the
structure!
Observe
how
the
anthers
are
placed
so
that
pollen
shall
naturally
fall
directly
on
the
stigmas
and
fertilize
them!"
Such
would
indeed
appear
to
be
intended,
until
it
is
actually
discovered
that
the
stigmas
have
withered
when
the
pollen
is
shed--a
device
which,
acting
in
association
with
the
little
ring
of
hairs,
tells
a
strange
story.
It
is
not
my
fortune
to
have
seen
one
of
these
singular
blossoms,
but
from
the
description
of
the
process
of
fertilization
given
in
Hermann
Mueller's
wonderful
work,
aided
by
a
botanical
illustration
of
the
structure
of
the
flower,
I
am
readily
enabled
to
picture
the
progressive
stages
of
the
mechanism.
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