OUTLINES OF BOTANY. 
XXIX 
occupy the sides, or stand more or less at right angles to the plane of the 
axis and the bract, are lateral. Thus, the two lips of the corolla of Labiate 
plants (p. 313) are superior and inferior (upper and lower). Thus, in the 
Pea and all the Pulse Family, where the flower is 5-merous, the odd sepal 
is inferior , or next the bract, while the sinus or notch between the two su¬ 
perior exactly corresponds to the axis of the inflorescence, and the two re¬ 
maining sepals are lateral. And, since the petals alternate with the sepals, 
the odd petal ( standard , p. 90, note) is superior, the two lower (forming the 
keel) are inferior, and the two remaining (wings) lateral. This will render 
sufficiently clear the application of these terms in other cases. It must be 
noted, however, that what was called an 11 inferior fower” or u inferior 
calyx,” &c., in the earlier botanical language, still to some extent in use, 
merely designates a flower with the calyx, &c., free from the ovary (154), 
or not adherent; and the term flower or calyx superior is equivalent to 
calyx adherent to the ovary, the free portion in such case appearing as if it 
constituted the whole of the calyx and surmounted the ovary. 
* * * Internal Structure of tlie Pistil, &c. 
160. When the pistils are very numerous, the receptacle is commonly 
prolonged or otherwise enlarged for their insertion 3 as in Anemone cvlin- 
drica (p. 5), Ranunculus (p. 8), the Strawberry (p. 123), &c. In the Rose 
(p. 126) the receptacle is expanded in a different way, so as to become 
hollow, and line the urn-shaped fleshy calyx-tube which forms the rose-hip, 
bearing the inclosed pistils over the whole inner (upper) surface. 
161. In Geranium (p. 73), the receptacle is prolonged far beyond the 5 
ovaries into a beak, to which the styles cohere. In Nelumbium it ex¬ 
pands into a large top-shaped body, into the upper face of which the pistils 
are immersed. 
162. In Magnolia and Liriodendron (p. 17), the numerous pistils, which 
partly cover each other, or are imbricated, in many rows on an elongated 
receptacle, cohere by their contiguous parts (the inner side of each to the 
back of the next above) into a common mass. 
163. To form a proper Compound Pistil, however, the component simple 
pistils unite in a whorl or ring, all being in one plane, in a manner which 
is well illustrated by the Mallow (p. 69) and its allies. Rightly to under¬ 
stand the structure and modifications of the compound ovary, the nature of 
the simple pistil must first be more particularly indicated. 
164. A simple pistil is correctly represented as a transformed leaf, curv¬ 
ed or folded inwards so that the two edges are brought into contact 
and cohere, thus forming a closed sac or cell, the ovary ; while a pro¬ 
longation of the apex of such a leaf produces the style, if any j and its apex, 
or some marginal portion of the prolongation, forms the stigma. The 
simple pistil, formed thus of a single leaf, whether separate, or when 
forming one of the components of a compound leaf, is named a Carpel. 
164. 2 In a whorl of simple pistils, accordingly, the line which represents 
the united margins of the caipellary leaf ’ of which each theoretically is 
composed, is on the inner side, or next the axis. This line is called the 
Inner or Ventral Suture (seam). A similar line down the back, answering 
to the midrib of the carpellary leaf, is called the Outer or Dorsal Suture. 
165. It is to the ventral suture alone, or some part of it, with rare ex¬ 
ceptions, or to something formed of it, that the ovules (173, or bodies 
which are to become the seeds) are attached. This is plainly seen in the 
most natural, normal carpels of the Larkspur, Columbine, or Caltha (pp. 
11 -13), where the ovules occupy the whole ventral suture in two rows, 
one for each margin of the transformed leaf. In the Buttercup (p. 8), the 
single ovule occupies the very base of this suture j in Anemone, its apex. 
166. The line or ridge which bears the ovules, and often projects more 
c * 
