CHAPTER XI. THE PISTILS, OR GVXjECIUM. 



S3 



Other examples of apocarpous pistils are those of the Buttercup, 

 Blackberry, Golden-seal and Aconite. But pistils, more than 

 any other floral organs, are liable to cohere more or less com- 

 pletely into compound forms. Such pistils are described as 

 syncarpous, Figs. 259 and 260. 



The union may have all degrees of completeness. Some- 

 times, as in Saxifrage, Fig. 261, the ovaries are united below, but 

 distinct above ; often they are completely united, while the styles 

 and stigmas are distinct, as in the Flax and Hypericum, Figs. 

 260 and 262 ; sometimes the union is complete, even to stigmas. 

 Even in these cases, however, traces of the composite character 

 of the structure usually still remain, either in the lobing of the 

 stigma or ovary, or in the internal structure of the 



Fig. 259. 



Fig. 260. 



Fig. 261. 



Fig. 262. Fig. 263. 



Fig. 259. — Syncarpous pistil of Scrophularia, made up of two carpels. The ovary is 

 cut transversely, to show the two-celled ovary. 



Fig. 260. — Syncarpous pistil of a species of Hypericum, composed of three carpels. 



Fig. 261. — Pistil of Saxifrage, having the two carpels only partially united. 



Fig. 262. — Two-carpelled pistil of Henbane, with the ovary cut transversely to show 

 the placentae. 



Fig. 263. — Pistil of Flax, consisting of five carpels, the ovaries united, but the styles 

 and stigmas distinct. 



latter organ. If, for instance, the pistil is three-carpelled, the 

 fact may be indicated by the division of the ovary into three 

 cells, or by the fact of its possessing three double rows of ovules 

 on its walls. While, however, the number of cells in the ovary 

 is usually indicative of the number of carpels of which the pistil 

 is composed, it must not be taken as an infallible guide, but otlfer 

 structural points must be taken into consideration, for instances 

 are known where, by the growth of false partitions from the 

 dorsal sutures of the carpels, the number of cells in the ovary 



