Flowers and their friends

by Margaret Warner Morley

I can tell you things much smaller than that have something inside of them. The truth is, these things seem so small because we are so large. If we were as small as they, they would not seem small at all. They would seem a very ordinary size indeed, and we would expect them to have an outside and an inside.

The truth is, pollen grains are hollow. They are as hollow as the baby’s rubber ball. But they are not empty. The baby’s rubber ball is not empty; it is full of air. These pollen grains are not full of air. If you were to see what is in them, you might not think it very important, but that would be a great mistake, for they are full of—protoplasm!

The truth of the matter is, the pollen grain is a cell; it has a wall outside and is made of protoplasm inside.

Protoplasm, you remember, is the material out of which every living thing is made. You are made from protoplasm yourself; flowers are made from it, too, and leaves and birds and everything that lives.

So you see if a pollen grain is filled with protoplasm, that is rather a serious matter.

This pollen grain, small as it is, has a tough outer skin. It is not as tough as leather, but it is tough for so small a grain, and is strong enough to keep the protoplasm from running out.

The protoplasm in the pollen grain is what the ovule needs to nourish it and make it able to grow. The ovule, too, is a cell filled with protoplasm, and the protoplasm of the pollen and of the ovule must somehow come together before the ovule can do any more growing.

You know how the bees and butterflies and all sorts of insects carry the pollen from flower to flower and dust the stigmas with it. You may think that when a pollen grain is safely landed on a stigma then the rest is easy enough. But if you suppose the pollen grain can pass through the style you are very much mistaken. It cannot even pass through the stigma. It is true, the tissues of both style and stigma are rather loose, and that the style is sometimes hollow. But, as far as I know, the pollen never passes through. Small as it is, it is too large to get through the tiny openings in the stigma, and then, you know, the stigma is sticky and holds it fast.

Here is an interesting state of affairs! The ovule cell is waiting for protoplasm, and the pollen cell is anchored safe and fast at the stigma.

But you may be sure there is a way out of this difficulty.