296 



TIIK FLOWKIl. 



stood : but, as it involves an erroneous idea, tlie expressions, Styles 

 distinct ; united at the base ; xinited to the middle, or summit, &.C., 

 as the case may be, should be employed in preference. 



559. A few casual exceptions occur to the general rule that 

 ovules and seeds are both produced and matured within an ovary, 

 namely, in a closed carpellary leaf or set of combined carpellary 

 leaves. In the Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) the ovules 

 rupture the ovary soon after flowering, and the seeds become naked ; 

 and in Mignonette they are imperfectly enclosed, the ovary being 

 open at the summit from an early period. In all such cases, how- 

 ever, the pistil is formed and the ovules are fertilized in the ordi- 

 nary way. 



5 GO. GynOECilim of Gymnospprmous Plants. A far more remarkable 

 exception is presented by two natural families, viz. Coniferai (Pines, 



Firs, &c.) and Cycadacea? 

 (Cycas, Zamia). Here 

 the pistil, as likeAvise the 

 whole flower, is reduced to 

 the last degree of simplici- 

 ty ; each fertile flower con- 

 sisting merely of an open carpellary leaf, in place of an ordinary pistil, 

 in the form of a scale (Fig. 511 - 513, 515, 51G), or of some other 

 shape, and bearing two or more ovules 

 upon some part of its upper surface. At 

 the time of blossoming, these pistil-leaves 

 of the forming cone diverge, and the pol- 

 len, abundantly shed from tlie staminate' 

 blossoms, falls directly upon the exposed 

 ovules. Afterwards the scales close over 

 each other until the seeds are ripe. In the 

 Yew there is no carpel or pistil-leaf at all ; 

 but the fertile blossom consists of a solitary 

 naked ovule, borne on the extremity of a 



FIG. 511. Scale, i. e. open pistil, from the cone of a Larch, at the time of flowering, or a 

 little later ; the upper side seen, with its pair of naked ovules. 



FIG. 512. Similar view of a Larch scale, when the seeds are partly grown. 513. A mature 

 scale, one of the seeds in its place, the other fallen (reduced in size). 514. A seed detached, 

 with its wing. 



FIG 515. Branchlet of the American Arbor-Vitae, considerably larger than in nature, ter- 

 minated by its pistillate flowers, each consisting of a single scale (an open pistil), together 

 forming a small cone. 516. One of the scales or pistils removed and more enlarged, the inside 

 exposed to view, showing a pair of naked ovules on its base. 



