298 THE FLOWER. 



uncommonly wanting. In the latter case, the stigma is sessile 

 upon the apex of the ovary. In Tasmannia it actually occupies 

 the side of the ovary for nearly its whole length, and is separated 

 from the line to which the ovules are attached only by the thick- 

 ness of the walls ; and it is nearly the same in our Schizandra 

 (Fig. 375), another plant of the Magnolia Family. The style 

 sometimes proceeds from the side, or even from the apparent 

 base, of the ovary ; as in the Strawberry. 



540. When the pistil is reduced to a single one, or when several 

 coalesce into one, it will necessarily terminate the axis, and appear 

 to be a direct continuation of it. When there are two pistils in 

 the flower, they always stand opposite each other (so that if they 

 coalesce it is by their inner faces) ; and are either lateral as re- 

 spects the flower, that is, one on the right side and the other on the 

 left, in a plane at right angles to the bract and axis (444), as in the 

 Mustard Family, the Gentian Family, and a few others ; or, more 

 commonly, anterior and posterior, one before the axis and the 

 other before the bract of the axillary flower. When they accord 

 in number with the sepals or petals, they are either opposed to or 

 alternate with them ; and the two positions in this respect are 

 sometimes found in nearly related genera, so as to baffle our at- 

 tempts at explaining the cause of the difference. In Pavonia, for 

 example, the five pistils are opposite the petals ; in Malvaviscus 

 and Hibiscus, alternate with them. In Sida, when five, they stand 

 opposite the petals ; in Abutilon, opposite the sepals. 



541. To attain a correct morphological view of the simple pistil, 

 we must contemplate it as resulting from the transformation of a 

 leaf which is folded inwards, and the margins united ; in a manner 

 that will be perfectly evident on comparing Fig. 263 with Fig. 

 270. The line formed by the union of the margins of the leaf is 

 called the INNER or VENTRAL SUTURE, and always looks towards 

 the axis of the flower. This is a true suture, or seam, as the word 

 denotes. The opposite line, which answers to the midrib, is some- 

 times apparent as a thickened line, and is termed the OUTER or 

 DORSAL SUTURE. The surface of the pistil necessarily corresponds 

 to the lower, and its lining to the upper, surface of a leaf. The 

 stalk of the pistil (487), when it is present, represents the petiole ; 

 and a prolongation of the apex of the specialized leaf forms the 

 style. The stigma occupies some portion of what in the style an- 

 swers to the confluent margins of the transformed leaf (and cer- 



