ITS ORGANS OR PARTS. 



223 



these, those next within tlie petals, are the Stamens (Fig. 338). 

 A stamen consists of a column or stalk, called the Filament (Fig. 

 340, a), and of a rounded body, or case, termed the An- 

 ther {b), filled with a powdery substance called Pol- 

 len, which it discharges through one or more slits or 

 openings. The older botanists had no general term for 

 the stamens taken collectively, analogous to that of corolla 

 for the entire whorl of petals, and of calyx for the whorl 

 of sepals. A name has, howevei*, recently been pro- 

 posed for the staminate system of a flower, Avhich it is 

 occasionally convenient to use ; that of Andrqecium. 



419. The remaining, or seed-bearing organs, which occupy the 

 centre or summit of the flower, to whose protection and perfection 

 all the other parts of the flower are in some way subservient, are 

 termed the Pistils. To them collectively the name of Gyn^cium 

 has been applied. One of them is separately shown in Fig. 339. 

 This is seen more magnified and cut across in Fig. 342 ; and a dif- 

 ferent one, longitudinally divided, 

 so as to exhibit the whole length 

 of its cavity, or cellj is represent- 

 ed in Fig. 341. 



420. A pistil is distinguished 

 into three parts ; namely, the 

 Ovary (Fig. 341, a), the hollow 

 portion at the base which con- 

 tains the Ovules, or bodies des- 

 tined to become seeds ; the Style 

 (5), or columnar prolongation of the apex of the 

 ovary ; and the Stigma (c), a jwrtion of the sur- 

 face of the style denuded of epidermis, sometimes 

 a mere point or a small knob at the apex of the 

 style, but often foiining a single or double line 

 running down a part of its inner face, and assum- 

 ing a great diversity of appearance in chflTerent 

 plants. 



FIG. 340. A stamen, 'with the anther (b) discharging its pollen : a, the filament. 



FIG. 341. Vertical section of a pistil, showing the interior of its ovary, a, to one side of 

 which are attached numerous ovules, rf : above is the style, 6, tipped by the stigma, c. 



FIG. 342. A Pistil of Crassula, like that of Fig. 339, but more magnified, and cut across 

 through the ovary, to show its cell, and the ovules it contains. At the summit of the style is 

 seen a somewhat papillose portion, destitute of epidermis, extending a little way down the in- 

 ner face : this is the stigma. 



342 



