642 SCALE-LEAVES, FOLIAGE-LEAVES, FLORAL-LEAVES. 



consists of the anther (anthera), i.e. tliat part in which tlie pollen is developed, 

 and of the support to this anther, which is usually threadlike, and bears the name 

 of filament (Jilamcntum). Filaments and anthers, in many instances, correspond 

 to the sheathing-part and stalk of the leaf, and in these stamens the blade is 

 wholly suppressed; in other instances the anther is to be regarded as the lower 

 part of the blade, and then the apex of the blade appears as a scale-like appendage. 

 The blade of the stamen sometimes resembles a pei'ianth-leaf, and this is a case 

 to which there will be frequent allusion. 



The carpels {carpopliylla) are arranged, like the perianth-leaves and stamens, 

 sometimes in whorls and sometimes spirally. In one section of flowering plants 

 they are scale-like, and present free margins not joined together. In another 

 section they are rolled together and their margins fused, so that a capsule called 

 the pistil ('pistilhim, ovarium) is formed. If many carpels are present in one 

 flower, each of them may form a separate ovary, and then the more or less 

 numerous one-leaved ovaries appear arranged either spirally or in a stellate 

 manner as the termination of the shoot in the centre of the flower, e.g. in the 

 RanunculaceEB and Dryadese. In the Papilionacere and several others allied to 

 these groups of plants there is only a single one-leaved pistil at the end of the 

 flower-shoot; but usually sevei-al whorled carpels are united together to form a 

 single ovary in the centre of the flower. A great number of different constructive 

 plans of many-leaved pistils are distinguished according to the manner and extent 

 of union, and these in particular afford excellent marks for characterizing the 

 families and genera. The most striking differences are produced by the whorled 

 carpels being at one time fused with one another along their whole length, while 

 at another, the fusion is restricted only to the lower part; by the fact that fre- 

 quently the rolled united margins of the adjoining carpels become partition-walls 

 in the interior of the pistil, resulting in the formation of compartments, while in 

 other cases this formation of septa does not occur, the carpels adjoining one 

 another like the staves of a cask, and forming an unchambered capsule. 



The pistil may be divided into the ovary (germen), style (stylus) and stigma 

 {stigma). The ovary corresponds to the sheathing portion, the style to the stalk, 

 and the stigma perhaps to the blade of the leaf. The ovary forms in most cases 

 an expanded structure; its contour and surface offer little variety, especially 

 when compared with the inexhaustible diversity of other parts of the flower. 

 Usually its shape is ovate, ellipsoidal, spherical, or disc-like, more rarely elongated, 

 cylindrical, or barrel-shaped; sometimes it is flattened from side to side, and 

 has the form of a sword or sabre. Projecting knobs, cushions, angles, ridges, 

 and bands are often found on its circumference in accordance with the number 

 of the carpels of which it is composed, and three- or five-sided forms are met 

 with very frequently. The hairs, bristles, spines, and wings appearing so noticeably 

 on the ovary when it has been transformed into the fruit-capsule are usually so 

 undeveloped at the time of flowering that perhaps not even the rudiments of 

 these outgrowths can be recognized. 



