SECT. IV. DECOMPOSITE ORGANS. 2()3 



been able to discover them in any specimens I have 

 yet examined. The pollen is now capable of being 

 distinguished into three parts, according to the de- 

 scription of Gaertner a cuticle, a cellular tissue, 

 and a parenchyma ; and the pistil, which is at first 

 merely a gelatinous mass, begins now to be distin- 

 guishable into germen, style, and stigma, the ger- 

 men being the Linnaean name for what Malpighi 

 calls the uterus, and Gaertner the ovarium. 



The ovary in its first stage of growth exhibits also Develops 

 the appearance of a homogeneous mass of paren- 

 chyma, without any division into distinct parts ; but 

 in a more advanced state it exhibits also the rudi- 

 ments of distinct organs, and finally the embryo 

 occupying the centre. 



The style, which is not a constant part of the Style, 

 pistil, originates generally in the substance of the 

 ovary, and sometimes though rarely in the recep- 

 tacle ; as in leguminous, malvaceous, and rough- 

 leaved plants. It agrees in its fabric and texture 

 with the ovary or receptacle, being merely an ex- 

 tension of the one or the other ; its vessels commu- 

 nicating with the ovary from which it ascends, and 

 containing a fluid which occasionally exudes and 

 moistens the surface of the stigma. 



The stigma, which according to Gaertner is pre- Stigma. 

 sent in the flower of all plants except Aphrodites, 

 originates in the style if the style is present, and if 

 not, in the upper extremity of the ovary ; assuming 

 generally some peculiar figure, and being sometimes 



