Section XIII Fertilization
328. The end of the flower is attained when the ovules become seeds. A flower remains for a certain time (longer or shorter according to the species) in anthesis, that is, in the proper state for the fulfilment of this end. During anthesis, the ovules have to be fertilized by the pollen; or at least some pollen has to reach the stigma, or in gymnospermy the ovule itself, and to set up the peculiar growth upon its moist and permeable tissue, which has for result the production of an embryo in the ovules. By this the ovules are said to be fertilized. The first step is pollination, or, so to say, the sowing of the proper pollen upon the stigma, where it is to germinate.