1136 A TEXTBOOK OF THEORETICAL BOTANY 



hairy surface of the ovary in the superior position was exactly the same as in 

 the inferior position, which is hardly consistent with the idea that it had 

 been stripped of enclosing receptacular tissue. In such cases one cannot 

 avoid the conclusion that epigyny is brought about by the adhesion of the 

 other floral parts to the ovary. 



Anatomy may sometimes throw light on the condition, as in Alstroemeria, 

 where a transverse section of the inferior ovary shows distinctly that a floral 

 tube, with its own vascular system consisting of the independent traces of 

 the perianth and stamens, encloses and is united to the ovary wall. The 

 same structure obtains in Furcraea gigantea, where moreover the enclosed 

 carpels are free from the inner perianth segments and have their own 

 proper walls. 



Fig. 1 1 10. Ecliinopsis tubifluya. Long floral 

 tube bearing bracteoles, which extend 

 downwards o\er the outer wall of the 

 ovary. 



Morphology may also sometimes be decisive, as in Cactaceae, where the 

 ovary wall may bear bracteoles and must therefore, it is argued, be of axial 

 nature (Fig. mo). 



No question in botanical morphology has been more debated than the 

 relationship of the axis to the carpels, especially in the inferior ovary 

 (see also pp. 1104 and 1219), and a vast expenditure of dogmatism by the 

 textbook writers of more than a century has not sufficed to reduce all cases 

 to a common level or to establish any fixed principle of reference. The 

 msistence upon the categorical separation of axis and appendage, which led, 

 for example, to the assertion of purely imaginary axial upgrowths forming 



