ESSENTIAL FLORAL LEAVES. IOI 
The pistil of primrose, consisting of five united carpels, presents 
a case of very close union, where the true state of things can 
only be inferred from analogy. 
Adhesion.—Mention has already been made of gynandrous 
stamens (p. 95). The most important example of union between 
pistil and other structures is presented by the epigynous flower 
(p. 81). Take, for example, a snowdrop, female flower of vege- 
table marrow, or bloom of fuchsia. Immediately beneath the 
calyx a green swelling will be found, which careful examination 
shows to be the ovary, containing seed rudiments or ovules. By 
examining flowers of different ages, it will be seen to become the 
fruit. ‘The most reasonable explanation supposes an inferior ovary 
like this to be formed by an intimate union between it and a 
cup-shaped floral receptacle (cf. fig. 37). If a Californian poppy 
(Eschscholtzia), which is an orange-coloured flower commonly 
cultivated, is cut accurately in half, its ovary will be seen partly 
embedded in a shallow cup formed by the receptacle. It is, so 
to speak, becoming inferior. 
Where, as in hypogynous and perigynous flowers, the ovary is 
free, t.e., attached to, but not fused with, the receptacle, it is said 
to be superior. 
External Characters.—The simplest kind of pistil is found in 
gymnosperms. Hxamine one of the large green cones found upon 
the Scotch fir in early summer. With some difficulty the scales 
crowded upon it can be detached. Look at the upper surface of 
one of them, and observe, close to the end that was attached, a 
pair of small oval whitish elevations (fig. 45, E). These are 
seed rudiments or ovules. That part of a carpel to which ovules 
are attached is termed a placenta, and this very frequently forms 
a more or less considerable outgrowth. In this particular case 
the carpels proper are extremely small, and the scales making up 
the cone are extremely large placentas. Note that but for the 
overlapping of adjoining scales the ovules would be quite unpro- 
tected. This condition is characteristic of gymnosperms, which 
owe their name to it. 
The ovules of angiosperms (fig. 48), on the contrary, are situated 
in a closed chamber, the ovary. It will be the simplest plan first 
to consider apocarpous pistils, and afterwards syncarpous ones, 
which are more complex. An apocarpous pistil is either mono- 
carpellary or polycarpellary, 1.e., made up respectively of one and 
more than one carpel. Papilionaceous flowers are examples of 
the former class. Take, for example, a pea flower, and strip off 
the corolla and diadelphous stamens, leaving the pistil behind. 
It consists of a laterally flattened ovary, from which a curved rod 
projects. This is the style, and at its tip there is a small sticky 
