"There is nothing more I can tell you about stamens and anthers, so we will strip them off the flower and see what we can find next. Here, in the very centre, surrounded by all the other parts, we find the most important part of the flower. We call it the pistil. It consists of two parts, the stigma and the ovary.""I think even the stigma is a very wonderful part of the flower," said Willie. "Teacher says that if we could see it through a glass that would magnify it, we should find it to be very loose and spongy, with a broad top, which is mostly covered with a sticky fluid.
"This stigma has to catch the pollen as it falls. The pollen must make its way down the stigma into the ovary below. The broad head, the sticky top, and the loose spongy substance of the stigma seem fitted in a wonderful way for this work.""Suppose we have a look at the ovary now," said Fred. "I have got, on purpose, some flowers that look dry and withered. You will see if we pull this one to pieces that the ovary has been growing very large.