One of these enlarged is shown. It is composed of
sticky grains of pollen held together by fine threads on the top
of a thin stalk; and at the bottom of the stalk there is a little
round body. This is all that you will find to represent the
stamens of the flower. When these masses of pollen, or pollinia
as they are called, are within the flower, the knob at the bottom
is covered by a little lid, shutting them in like the lid of a
box, and just below this lid you will see two yellowish lumps,
which are very sticky. These are the top of the stigma, and they
are just above the seed-vessel, which you can see in the lowest
flower in the picture.
Now let us see how this flower gives up its pollen. When a bee
comes to look for honey in the orchis, she alights on the lip,
and guided by the lines makes straight for the opening just in
front of the stigmas. Putting her head into this opening she
pushes down into the spur, where by biting the inside skin she
gets some juicy sap.
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