274 



OEGANOGEAPHT. 



partially so, and vice versd. The young observer must be careful 

 not to confound the inferior ovary, as now described, with the 

 apparently inferior ovaries of such flowers as the Kose (fig, 

 Fia 611 437), where the thalamus is concave and at- 



^' ' tached to the calyx, and bears a number of 



carpels on its inner walls. A transverse sec- 

 tion will at once show the difference ; thus, in 

 the Eose we should then find a single cavity 

 open at its summit, and its walls covered 

 with distinct carpels ; whereas, on the con- 

 trary, a true adherent ovary would show, under 

 the same condition, one or more loculi con- 

 taining ovules. The ovaries of the Kose are 

 therefore strictly 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 two 

 J%. 611. Vertical sec- , . ^ tt • ^ n 



tion of the flower of combined. His Views are not generally re- 

 a Saxifrage, show- ceived by botanists, and we need not therefore 

 tialiy adiierent^To further allude to them. It is probable, how- 

 the calyx. ever, 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 Eschscholtzia. (Se*; page 221.) 

 The ovary varies in form and appearance ; when simple, it is 

 generally more or less irregular in form, but when compound, 

 it is commonly regular. Exceptions to the regularity of com- 

 pound ovaries may be seen in the Antirrhinum {fig. 612), and 

 in other instances. In form, the compound 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 fur- 

 rows are deep, the ovary assumes a 

 lobed appearance, and is described as 

 one, two, three, four, five, or many- 

 lobed, according to circumstances. 

 Sometimes we find, in addition to the 

 furrows which correspond to the dis- 

 sepiments or points of union, of the 

 ovaries, others of a more superficial 

 character which correspond to the 

 dorsal sutures. At the latter points, 

 '''■^^^nX^:^^'' however, it is more common to find 

 slight projections, which then give a 

 somewhat angular appearance to the ovary. 



The epidermis covering the surface of the ovary may be 



