Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/350

 320 The Viola tricolor or Pansy, the Gratiola, the Martynia, and many plants besides, have been observed to be furnished with a stigma gaping only at the time the pollen is ripe. The beautiful Jacobæan Lily, Amaryllis formosissima, Curt. Mag. t. 47, is justly described by Linnæus as provided with a drop of clear liquid, which protrudes every morning from the stigma, and about noon seems almost ready to fall to the ground. It is however reabsorbed in the afternoon, having received the pollen whose vapour renders it turbid, and whose minute husks afterwards remain upon the stigma. The same phenomenon takes place several successive days.

In opposition to similar facts, proving the synchronous operation of these organs, Pontedera has, with more observation than usual, remarked that in the umbelliferous tribe the style frequently does not appear till the anthers are fallen. But he ought to have perceived that the stigma is previously perfected, and that the style seems to grow out afterwards, in a recurved and divaricated form, for the purpose of providing hooks to the seeds. It is also observable that in this family the several organs are sometimes brought