LESSON 18.] 



SIMPLK PISTII.S. 



117 



simple or compound. A simple nislil answers fo a slnplc leaf. A 

 compound pistil answers to two or more h.-aves rombinotl, just as a 

 nionopelalous corolla (2(j.">) answers to two or more petals, or leaves 

 of the flower, nnitetl into oik; hotly. In theory, aceortlin^My, 



30,'). TIlP Simple Pislii, or liirixi (as it is sometimes calleil), consists 

 of tlie hlade of ;i leaf, cnrM-d unlil the marfrins meet and unite, form- 

 iiii; in this way a elo-ed ease or |)od, which is the ovary. So that 

 the upper face of the altered h'af answers to the inner surface of the 

 ovary, and the lower, to its outer surface. And the ovules are borne 

 on what answers to the united edges of tlu' leaf. The tapering sum- 

 mit, rolled toirelher and prolonged, forms the style, when there is 

 any ; ami the edLres of the altered leaf turned outwards, either at 

 the tip or aloiii^ the inner side of the style, form the stigma. To 

 make this perfeetly clear, eompaic a leaf folded together in this wa; 

 (as in Fig. 2.')]) with a pistil of a 

 Garden Pa'ony, or Larkspni-. or with 

 that in Fig. 2^)2; or, later in th(> 

 season, notice how these, as ripe j'ods, 

 split down along the line formed by 

 the united edges, and open out again 

 into a sort of leaf, as in the Marsh- 

 I\Iarigol.l (Fig. 25.3). In the Double- 

 flowering Cherry the pistil occasion 

 ally is found changed back again into 

 a small green leaf, partly folded, much as 



306. Fig. 172 represents a simple pistil on a larg(>r scale, the. 

 ovary cut through to show how the ovules (when nuniemiis) are 

 attached to what answers to the two margins of the lc;if. Tiie 

 Stonecrop (Fig. 1G8) has five such ])istils in a circle, each with the 

 side where the ovules an; attaciied tuiiied to the centre of the tlower. 



307. The line or seam down the inner side, whicii answers to the 

 united edges of the leaf, and bears the ovules, is called the ventral or 

 inner Suture. A corresponding line down the back of the ovary, 

 and which answers to the middle of the leaf, is named the dorsul or 

 outer Suture. 



308. The ventral suture inside, wiiere it projects ;i little into the 



Fir.. S-M. A lo.if r..llfil lip iiiwanls, to .-.how li«\v tlip pi 



FI(i. '■J^fi, I'JMtil (if Isiipyriiin bitcriialiiiii nic .irrotis, will 

 tlio eye. 



FIG. 253. Tutl or ri|H) pistil of Ilia Oaltha, or Mareh-Marigold, arivr opening 



siippiisnl to Ik- foriiird. 

 iiiiiT siKiire tiiriicil tiiw'arUfl 



