The Mystery of Sex, or Sex Polarity

receptacle in which the two essential and distinctive sex organs of the plant are found: (1) the stamen, or male organ; and (2) the pistil, or female organ.

The stamen, the male organ of the flower, is an upright, thread-like filament. At its top, it carries two tiny sacs called the anthers. These contain a very fine, microscopic dust or powder called pollen, which is the active male element of reproduction.

The pistil, or female organ of the flower, is found in the center of the flower, surrounded by the stamens. It secretes and stores the female element of reproduction, called the ovule, in a tiny cell. Crowning the pistil are the style and the stigma.

Some flowers have only one stamen; others have two; still others have many. Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) was a Swedish botanist who created the modern system for naming and classifying organisms. was the first great authority to explain the sexual activities of plants. He says:

"The flower forms the theater for the love affairs of the plants. The calyx the green cup-like base of the flower is to be considered the wedding bed; the corolla the petals constitutes the curtains; the anthers are the testicles original Latin: testes; the pollen is the fertilizing fluid; the stigma of the pistil is the external genital opening; the style is the vagina original Latin: vagina, meaning a sheath or passage, or the channel for the fertile seed; the ovary of the plant is the womb; and the mutual interaction of the stamens on the pistil is the secondary process of fertilization original: 'fecundation'."

Kellogg Likely Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1852–1943), a prominent American physician who wrote extensively on health and biology. says:

"In many instances, the actions of plants seem almost to be prompted by intelligence. At the proper moment, the corolla contracts in such a way as to bring the stamens nearer to the stigma, or into contact with it, to ensure fertilization original: 'fecundation'. In some aquatic plants, the flowers raise themselves above the surface of the water while the process of fertilization takes place, submerging themselves again immediately afterward. Other very curious changes occur in flowers of different species during the reproductive act. The stigma is observed to become moist, and even to become slightly scented. Often, too, it becomes intensely filled with the plant's juices, and sometimes even acquires an uncommon and most remarkable degree..." The text here appears to cut off mid-sentence.