ANDRG&CIUM.—GYNCECIUM. 19 
® 
rior a powdery, or more rarely waxy, substance, called the pollen, 
p. This pollen, the nature of which can only be seen when 
highly magnified, is found to be formed of innumerable minute 
grains, or more properly cells, the pollen grains or pollen cells, 
each of which encloses a granular fluid protoplasm, the fovilla, 
which constitutes the male fertilising element. The pollen 
when ripe is discharged, as represented in the figure, through 
little slits or holes formed in the anther. The anther with 
its contained pollen is the only essential part of a stamen ; but 
it generally possesses in addition a little stalk, called the jila- 
ment, f, which then supports the anther on its summit. When 
the filament is absent, the anther is said to be sessile. The 
staminal whorl is termed the Andreciwm, from its constituting 
the male system of Flowering Plants. 
RG. ove BPIGs oa; 
Fig. 31. Gyncecium of Columbine (Aguwilegia vulgaris). p. Peduncle. 7. 
Thalamus. ¢. Carpels, each with an ovary, 0; style, sty; and stigma, stig. 
— Fig.32. Gyncecium of Poppy ( Papave7'), with one stamen arising from 
below it. o. United ovaries. sti. Stigmas, Fig, 33. Vertical section of 
the gyncecium of the Pansy (Viola tricolor). c. Remains of the calyx. 
d. Ovary. p. Placenta, 0, 0. Ovules. s, Stigma on the summit of a short 
style. 
The Gynecium (or Pistil as it is also called) is the only 
remaining organ ; it occupies the centre of the flower (jig. 26, 
sti), all the other organs being arranged around it when these 
are present. It is termed the gyneciwm from its constituting 
the female system of Flowering Plants, and ccnsists of one or 
more parts, called carpels, which are either distinct from each 
other (apocarpous), asin the Columbine (fig. 31, ¢), or combined 
into one body (syncarpous), as in the Poppy (fig. 32). Each 
carpel consists of a hollow inferior part, called the ovary (figs. 
31, 0, and 33, d), in which are placed one or more little bodies 
called ovules (fig. 33, 0, 0), attached to a part cailed the placenta, 
p, and which ultimately by fertilisation from the pollen become 
the seeds ; and of a stigma, or space of variable size, which is 
either placed directly on the top of the ovary, as in the Poppy 
c2 
