THE PISTILS. 297 



stigma, however, which is barely moist, but not wet, it does not 

 burst, but the inner membrane is slowly protruded, often through 

 particular points, clefts, or valvular openings of the outer coat, in 

 the form of an attenuated transparent tube (Fig. 416-418), filled 

 with its fluid contents, which penetrates the naked and loose cellu- 

 lar tissue of the stigma, and buries itself in the style (Fig. 419). 

 Its further course and the office it subserves will be considered 

 after the structure of the pistil is made known. 



SECT. VII. THE PISTILS. 



537. The 'Pistils (419) occupy the centre of the flower, and ter- 

 minate the axis of growth. Their number is designated by Greek 

 numerals, prefixed to the name applied to the pistil from the same 

 language. Thus, a flower with a single pistil is said to be mono- 

 gynous ; with two, digynous ; with three, trigynous ; with four, 

 tetragynous ; with five, pentagynous ; with six, hexagynous ; with 

 seven, heptagynous ; with eight, octogynous ; with ten, decagynous ; 

 and so on : and when more numerous or indefinite, they are termed 

 poly gy nous. (See the Linnrean Artificial Orders.) 



538. It is comparatively seldom that the pistils are actually 

 equal to the petals or sepals (480) in number; they are some- 

 times more numerous, and arranged in several rows upon the 

 enlarged or prolonged receptacle, as in the Magnolia, the Straw- 

 berry, &c., and perhaps more frequently they are reduced to less 

 than the typical number, or to a^single one. Yet often what ap- 

 pears to be a single pistil is not so in reality, but a compound or- 

 gan, formed by the union of two, three, or a greater number of 

 simple pistils ; as is shown in Fig. 381 - 390. 



539. A pistil, as already described (420), is composed of three 

 parts ; the OVARY, or seed-bearing portion ; the STYLE, or taper- 

 ing portion, into which the apex of the ovary is prolonged ; and 

 the STIGMA, usually situated at the summit of the style, consisting 

 of a part, or sometimes a mere point, of the latter, divested of epi- 

 dermis, with its moist cellular tissue exposed to the air. The 

 ovary, which contains the young seeds, or ovules, is of course a 

 necessary part of the pistil : the stigma, which receives from the 

 anthers the pollen (536) by which the ovules are fertilized, is no 

 less necessary : but the intervening style is no more essential to 

 the pistil than the filament is to the stamen, and is therefore not 



