174 



MINUTE STRUCTURE OF THE FLOWER. 



489. But if the ovaries, instead of being superior, as those in 

 Fig. 133, are inferior, as those in Fig. 134, further complications 

 are caused. The fibro-vascular bundles of the several floral 

 whorls united with the pistil are distributed in circles in the 

 parenchyma tissue of the ovary. Thus in Fig. 134 a, we find 

 five such circles, corresponding to the cabyx, corolla, stamens, 

 and dorsal and ventral sutures of the carpel. The bundles in 

 Fig. 134 a are arranged in radial lines from the centre outwards ; 

 the six bundles nearest the centre of the ovary are those of the 

 ventral sutures, and have wood outside and liber inside ; in the 

 next circle the three with reverse arrangement of elements are 

 those of the dorsal sutures from which the bundles just spoken 

 of branched. In Fig. 134 #, all the fibro-vascular bundles save 



those of the carpels 

 are united to form a 

 single circle, thus giv- 

 ing rise to the three 

 circles of bundles 

 seen in the cross- 

 section, and at the 

 base of the ovary 

 even these did not 

 exist separate. In 

 Fig. 134 c, the bun- 

 dles of all the floral 

 whorls are blended 

 for a considerable 

 height in the ovary ; 

 finally, the bundles 

 of the ventral sutures 

 become separated 

 from the rest, which 

 continue united 

 throughout, forming 



the large bundles seen on the periphery of the ovary in Fig. 



134 c. The arrangement of the bundles in this figure should be 



compared with that in Fig. 133. 



490. The structure of the peduncle and the pedicels is sub- 

 stantially the same as that of the stem, and the structure of 



FIG. 134 Transverse section of the inferior ovary, showing the arrangement of fibro- 

 vascular bundles both in the carpels and the external parts of the flower: o, Alstrce- 

 meria versicolor, the fascicles of the whorls independent; b, Galanthus nivalis, the 

 fascicles no longer so distinctly radial; c, Campanula Medium, the fascicles of th 

 whorls blended. (Van Tieghem.) 



