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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
98
The
pollen,
unlike
ordinary
flowers,
is
gathered
together
in
waxy
masses
of
varying
consistency,
variously
formed
and
disposed
in
the
blossom,
its
grains
being
connected
with
elastic
cobwebby
threads,
which
occasionally
permit
the
entire
mass
to
be
stretched
to
four
or
five
times
its
length,
and
recover
its
original
shape
when
released.
This
is
noticeable
specially
in
the
O.
spectabilis,
later
described.
The
grains
thus
united
are
readily
disentangled
from
their
mass
when
brought
into
contact
with
a
viscid
object,
as,
for
instance,
the
stigma.
But
the
most
significant
botanical
contrast
and
distinction
is
found
in
the
union
of
the
style
and
stamens
in
one
organ,
called
the
column
(Fig.
2),
the
stigma
and
the
pollen
being
thus
disposed
upon
a
single
common
stalk.
The
contrast
to
the
ordinary
flower
will
be
readily
appreciated
by
comparison
of
the
accompanying
diagrams
(Fig.
1).
When,
therefore,
we
find
a
blossom
with
the
anthers
or
pollen
receptacle
united
to
a
stalk
upon
which
the
stigma
is
also
placed,
we
have
an
orchid.
The
order
is
further
remarkable,
as
Darwin
first
demonstrated
in
his
wonderful
volume
"The
Fertilization
of
Orchids,"
in
that
the
entire
group,
with
very
few
exceptions,
are
absolutely
dependent
upon
insects
for
their
perpetuation
through
seed.
They
possess
no
possible
resource
for
self-fertilization
in
the
neglect
of
these
insect
sponsors.
Many
of
our
common
wild
flowers,
as
perfectly
and
effectually
planned
for
cross-fertilization
as
the
orchids,
do
retain
the
reserve
power
of
final
self-fertilization
if
unfertilized
by
foreign
pollen.
But
the
orchid
has
lost
such
power,
and
in
the
progress
of
evolution
has
gradually
adapted
itself
to
the
insect,
often
to
a
particular
species
of
insect,
its
sole
sponsor,
which
natural
selection
has
again
gradually
modified
in
relation
to
the
flower.
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