ORGANS OF EEPEODUCTION. 



259 



as a dark red cup-shaped expansion covering nearly the whole 

 of the pistil except the stigmas ; in the Eose and Cherry {fig. 

 530 ) it forms a sort of waxy lining to the tube of the calyx ; 

 and in Umbelliferous Plants the disk constitutes a swelling on 

 the top of the ovaries adhering to the styles {fig. 563, d); 

 this latter form of disk has been termed the stylopodiian. in 

 other cases the disk is reduced to little separate glandular 

 bodies, as in Cruciferous Plants {fig. 420, gl); or to scales, as 

 in the Stonecrop {fig. 566) and Yine {fig. 504); or to various 

 petaloid expansions, as in the Columbine {Aqiiilegia). 



Wlien the disk is situated under the ovar}^ as in the Orange, 

 Eue, and Wallflower, it is termed hypogynous ; when it is at- 

 tached to the calyx, as in the Eose and Cherr}', it is perigynous ; 

 or when on the summit of the ovary, as in Umbelliferous Plants, 

 epigynoxis ; these terms being used in the sense already de- 

 scribed when treating of the insertion of the stamens under the 

 head of the andrcecium. 



The so-called nectaries, as already noticed, are by some botanists 

 treated of in this place as distinct organs. We confine the mean- 

 ing of the term nectary to those bodies which secrete a honey- 

 like fluid, and have already referred to them under the heads 

 of Glands and Corolla. 



Fig. b^b. 



Fig. 566. 



Fig. 567. Fig. 568. 



<h 



Fig. 565. Pistil of the Tree Paeony invested by a large cup-shaped ex- 



I-ansiou or disk. Fiy. 566. Pistil of Sconecrup (Sedum), consiscing of 



five distinct carpels, on ttie outside of each of which at the l)a>e a small 

 scaly I'ody may l)e noticed. The pistil is compound and apoc-irpous. 

 Fig. 567. Pistil of Primrose (Primula), composed of several car- 

 pels united into one, and hence termed compound and syncarpous. 



There is but one style surmounted by a capitate stigma. Fie;. 568. 



Simple pistil of Broom, o. Ovary, s. Style, t. Stigma. 



3. THE GYNCECIUM OR PISTIL, 



We now arrive at the consideration of the last organ of the 

 flower, namely the gyncecium or female system. The gynce- 

 cium, or pistil as it is more frequently called, occupies the centre 

 s2 



