344 GOETHE ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS. 
IX. On the Formation of the Style. 
3 67. Tf thus far our object has been to show that the different organs 
of plants, developed in succession, are intrinsically identical, however 
. unlike externally, it will be easily conjectured that our next aim will be 
to explain the structure of the pistil on the same principle. | 
68. We will first consider the style as independent of the fruit, as 
indeed we often find it in nature, and the fact of its being thus distinct 
will make our task the easier. 
69. The style then, we observe, is to be referred to the same period 
of growth as the stamens; the stamens, that is to say, are the result. 
of contraction, and the same thing may be often asserted of the styles ; 
if, indeed, their proportions do not always keep pace with those of the 
stamens, the difference in their length is but slight. In many instances. 
the style has almost the appearance of a filament without an anther, 
and they are more nearly allied in external form than any of the other. 
organs. Since both are produced by spiral vessels,* it becomes $0 
much the more evident that neither pistils nor stamens are distinct or- 
gans, and if by this consideration their close relationship is rendered 
obvious, it appears to us that the idea of an anastomosis, as applied to 
their union, is both appropriate and intelligible. 
70. We often find that the style is composed of many single styles 
united; the parts which compose it are scarcely discernible even at the 
tip, nor even there are they always separated. Such adhesion (upon 
the effect of which we have already often remarked) may easily take 
place in this instance, indeed it must inevitably occur, because these 
delicate organs, before the time of their perfect development arrives, 
are pressed together in the centre of the flower-bud, and may there effect 
the very closest union. 
Tl. There are many instances of a constant kind in which nature 
shows us more or less clearly the eonnection of the style with the pre- 
ceding organs of the flower. . The style of the Zris and its stigmas, 
for example, are obviously petaloid. ‘The shield-shaped stigma of the 
Sarracenia betrays, though less obviously, that it is composed of several 
leaves, and even the green colour is retained. If we call in the aid of 
the microscope, we find many stigmas, as for example those of the 
Crocus and the Zannichellia, formed like perfect mono- or polysepalous 
i 
* See note to § 60. 
