24O 



PLANT LIFE. 



guishable into (i) an enlarged basal part, the ovulary* con- 

 taining the ovules, surmounted by (2) a slender part of vari- 

 able length, the style, which is terminated by (3) a rough, 

 sticky, or branched part, the stigma. (See figs. 250, 258.) 



336. The stigma may take the form of a knob, a ridge, 

 a straight or wavy line, or be lobed or branched. However 

 compact, it is usually roughened by the prolongation of 

 its surface cells into rounded, pointed, or hair-like exten- 



sions (figs. 248, 283), which frequently 

 secrete a sticky fluid. Its purpose is 

 to secure the adhesion of the pollen 

 spores brought to it by various agents, 

 among the most important of which are 

 the wind and insects. 



337. The style may be thick or 

 slender, long or short, branched or un- 

 branched, hollow or solid. It is fre- 

 quently wanting, so that the stigma is 

 said to be sessile upon the ovulary. 



338. Simple and compound pistils. 

 F Trom 4 Ve n s?ig m f a *? com When several carpels are present in 



one fl o w er they may form as many 

 separate simple pistils as there are car- 

 - P els ' If numerous, the axis will be 

 After strasburger. enlarged or elongated to accommodate 



them. (See ^| 360.) Instead of forming separate pistils, 



* This part was early called the ovary (a name which is still in general 

 use), meaning the organ which produces eggs, under the impression that 

 the ovules (= little eggs) were like the eggs of birds, an idea which was 

 further carried out in the name albumen given to the food stored in the 

 seed. (See ^ 403, 407. ) To avoid confusion with the true ovary (<[ 388), 

 in which the real egg is produced (^j 387), I here suggest the name ovu- 

 lary i.e., the organ which produces ovules. The word ovule, though as 

 bad in etymology as ovary, is convenient, and does not lead to any con- 

 fusion. 



