280 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE OVARY. wa 
The ovary, whether simple or compound, may be either ad- 
herent to the calyx or free from it (see page 227). In the former 
case, as in the Myrtle (jig. 463), it is inferior or adherent, and 
the calyx is superior ; in the latter, as in Dictammnus (fig. 624), it 
is superior or free, and the calyx is inferior. In some flowers 
the ovary is but partially adherent to the calyx, as in the species 
of Saxifrage (fig. 625), in which case it is sometimes termed 
half-adherent or half-inferior ; and the calyx is then said to be 
half-superior ; the latter terms are, however, but rarely used, 
the ovary being commonly described as inferior, whether its 
adhesion to the calyx be complete, or only partially so, and vice 
versa. 
The student must be careful not to confound the inferior 
ovary, as now described, with the apparently inferior ovaries of 
such flowers as the Rose (fig. 454), where the thalamus, 7, 7, is 
concave and attached to the tube of the calyx, ct, and bears a 
number of carpels, 0, 0, on its inner walls. A transverse section 
will at once show the difference ; thus, in the Rose, we should 
then find a single cavity open at its summit, and its walls covered 
with distinct carpels ; whereas, on the contrary, a true adherent 
ovary would show, under the same condition, one or more cells 
containing ovules. The ovaries of the Rose are therefore 
superior or free. 
Schleiden contends that the ovary is not always formed of 
carpels, but sometimes also of the stem, and at other times of 
the twocombined. His views are not however generally received 
by botanists, and we need not therefore further allude to them. 
It is probable, however, that the thalamus by becoming hollowed 
out may, in some cases, form part of the ovary, in the same 
manner as it occasionally, under similar circumstances, forms a 
part of the calyx, as already noticed in Hschscholtzia. (See page 
229.) 
The ovary varies much in form and in the character of its 
surface: when simple it is generally more or less irregular in 
form; but when compound, it is commonly regular. Exceptions 
to the regularity of compound ovaries may be seen in the Antir- 
rhinum (fig. 626), and in other instances. In form, the com- 
pound ovary is generally more or less spheroidal, or ovate. The 
outer surface may be either perfectly even or uniform, thus 
showing no trace of its internal divisions ; or it may be marked 
by furrows extending from its base to the origin of the style 
and corresponding to the points of union of its constituent 
ovaries. When these furrows are deep, the ovary assumes a lobed 
appearance, and is described as one, two, three, fowr, five, or 
many-lobed, according to the number of its lobes. Sometimes 
we find, in «addition to the furrows which correspond to the 
points of union of the ovaries, others of a more superficial 
character which correspond to the dorsal sutures. At the 
latter points, however, it is more common to find slight projec- 
