44 CHELTENHAM COLLEGE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
is impossible to understand the structure of a pistil, unless we 
remember that its parts are essentially leaves. The ordinary green leaf 
has a stalk and a blade, sometimes leaves have no stalks only the blade- 
like portion ; down the middle of that blade-like portion there runs 
what is called the rib of the leaf. Now let us see how a pistil is formed 
from leaves like this. Supposing it consists of one leaf, as is the 
case in sweet pea. What happens is this: the leaf unites by its 
edges, so as to form a chamber and the ovules then become developed 
on the side of the chamber. Ina ripe pod of sweet pea you know 
how the seeds are fastened on to the edges, that was the side along 
which the carpels united, the opposite side shews the position of the 
mid-rib ; and the pod of the sweet pea splits along both places. 
Pistils are often formed from more than one carpel, and then the 
edges of the carpels may unite in various ways. Let us take the case 
of the daffodil, which has three carpels. These not only unite by 
their edges, but the edges curve in so as to divide the chamber into 
three parts ; there are to all intents and purposes three chambers ; if 
the carpels had united merely by their edges, a single chamber would 
have been formed. This chamber is called the ovary, and the ovules 
are formed in the ovary. Imagine the apex of a leaf lengthened out 
and you will understand how the style is produced, the stigma is the 
top part of the style on which the pollen is placed. { Stigma, 
Pistil ~ Style, 
Ovary. 
Go through the dissection of daffodil: 
1. The dark yellow is strictly speaking an outgrowth, not an actual 
part of the flower. 
2. The bright yellow parts, answering to sepals and petals, form 
what is called “ perianth ”— outer coverings. If the daffodil 
be compared with the snowdrop, the three outer light yellow 
leavesanswer to the outer white spreading leaves of the snowdrop, 
and the three inner light yellow leaves to the upright white 
petals. Thus the snowdrop has nothing answering to the dark 
yellow of the daffodil. 
- The position of the Ovary, inferior. 
We may compare with this Order the Liliacee. Wyacinth. 
T. Six leaves forming the perianth. 
2. Ovary above the rest of the flower. 
uae “Agar ES 
_ The position of the ovary is a very distinctive feature in fixing the 
der of a flower. Daffodil and hyacinth have a great deal in 
