48 SCIENCE PRIMERS. [xn. 



is often exuded at particular points within it. Its 

 pieces, called petals, may be free or combined into 

 a cup or tube, or into the form of a bell, a funnel, &c. 



(c) Stamens, usually slender organs, form the 

 third whorl, they consist of a stalk (filament), sur- 

 mounted by a 2-lobed body, the anther, containing 

 a fine yellow-powder, the pollen, necessary to per- 

 fecting seeds. The filaments may be absent or com- 

 bined into a tube, or into bundles, or be altogether 

 free, as may the anthers. 



(d) The Pistil, or central organ, forms the inner- 

 most or fourth whorl, and presents many more modi- 

 fications than any of the preceding. In its simplest 

 form (pea) it represents a leaf folded down the middle 

 with its edges united so as to form a hollow vessel 

 (ovary) ; the tip tapers into a stout or slender body 

 (style), which terminates in one or more rough or 

 moist, often swollen nobs or surfaces or points 

 (stigmas). The style may be absent, when the 

 stigma is sessile on the ovary. 



The pistillar leaf is called a carpel, and its cavity 

 contains, attached to its inner surface, one or more 

 minute bodies, destined, after fertilization (by the 

 . action of the pollen on the stigma), to become 

 seeds. The pea-pod is one such carpel with several 

 ovules. The buttercup has many such carpels, each 

 with one ovule, style, and stigma. When there are 

 several carpels they may be free (buttercup), or com- 

 bined by their edges into a one-celled ovary (violet\ 

 or by their sides into an ovary with as many cells 

 as carpels (lily). In these cases of united carpels the 

 styles may be free or combined; and when com- 

 bined, the stigmas may still be free. The number of 



