The wonderful story of life : a mother's talks with her daughter regarding life and its reproduction / reprinted by the British Social Hygiene Council ... by permission of the United States Public Health Service.
- United States Public Health Service
- Date:
- [1933]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The wonderful story of life : a mother's talks with her daughter regarding life and its reproduction / reprinted by the British Social Hygiene Council ... by permission of the United States Public Health Service. Source: Wellcome Collection.
13/28 page 11
![room table or for me to wear to parties? No; the flower, like the leaves, has a definite work. It is to help form this very wonderful little seed. In the very centre of all flowers there is a stalk called the pistil. And what is a pistil, you ask ? Well, I will try to draw a picture of a pistil for you. Or wait ; perhaps we can find it here in this flower.* That will be better, because my pictures would not help you very much, I am afraid. Here is the pistil. It is this upright part in the very centre of the flower. It is carefully protected there. As you see it broadens out at the lower end. There are tiny passages from the top of the pistil into the broader part at the bottom. Now, if we cut through this broader part, the little green ball or stem at the bottom of the flower, we will see a number of little white dots. These dots or egg cells, as we call them, will in time erow into seeds. The tiny passages in the pistil lead to the egg cells. Have you ever looked at a flower carefully ? I know that you have been very close to one many times, and have, in fact, stuck your nose deeply into it in order to get all its fragrance. Now, sometimes when you have done this I[ have noticed that some yellow dust from the centre of the flower has been left on your nose. It has looked very funny there. This dust is called pollen. It doesn’t seem of very much importance to you and you brush it off quickly. Still, this pollen plays a most important part in the making of flower seeds. * Among the flowers particularly adapted to use for illustration are: Sweet pea, apple blossom (and other fruit blossoms), lily, wild rose, tulip, etc. [11]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32172060_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
