J 10 



OVULES. 



[section iJ. 



Section XI. OVULES. 



.'U7. Ovule (from the Lutin, iiicaiiiiig a little egg) is the technical name 

 of that which iu the flower answers to aud becomes the seed. 



318. Ovules are ;w^-(?</ iu gYmuospermous plants (as just described); in 

 all others they are enclosed iu the ovary. They may be produced along the 



whole lengtli of the cell or cells of the ovary, aud then tiiey are 

 apt to bo numerous; or only from some part of it, generally 

 the top or the bottom. In tiiis case they are usually few or 

 single {soiiiu/y, as in Fig. 341-343). 'They may be sessile, 

 i. e. without stalk, or they may be attached by a distinct stalk, 

 ''^'^ the TuNicLE or Funiculus (Fig. 340). 



319. Considered as to their position aud direction iu the ovary, they are 

 Horizontal, when they are neither turned upward nor downward, as in 



Podophyllum (Fig. 326) ; 



Ascending,, when rising obliquely upwards, usually from the side of the 

 cell, not from its very base, as in the But- 

 tercup (Fig. 341), and the Purslane (Fig. 

 272) ; 



Erect, when rising upright from the 

 very base of the cell, as iu the Buck- 

 wheat (Fig. 342) ; 



Pendulous, when hanging from the 

 side or from near the top, as in the Flax (Fig. 270) ; and 



Suspended, when hangiug perpendicularly from the very summit of the 

 cell, as iu the Anemone (Fig. 343). All these terms equally ajjply to 

 seeds. 



320. In structure an ovule is a pulpy mass of tissue, usually with one 

 or two coats or covei-ings. The following parts are to be noted ; viz -. — 



Kernel or Nucleus, the body of the ovule. In the Mistletoe and some 

 related plants, there is only this nnoleus, the coats boiug wanting. 



Tegumknt.s, or coats, sometimes only one, more commonly two. lYhcu 

 two, one has been called Primine, the other Secundine. It Mill servo all 

 purposes to call thom simply outer and inner ovide-coats. 



Orifice, or Foramen, an opening through the coats at the organic apex 

 of the ovule. In the seed it is Mlcrop>/le. 



Cii.'iL.^.ZA, the place where the coats and the kernel of the ovule blend. 



HiLUM, the place of junction of the funiculus witii the body of the ovule. 



Fig. 340. A cluster of ovules, pendulous on tlieir funicles. 



Fig. 341. Section of tlie ovary of a Buttercup, lengthwise, showing its ascending 

 ovule. 



Fig. 342. Section of the ovary of Buckwheat, showing the erect ovnle. 

 FlQ. 343. Section of the ovary of ALuemone, showing its suspended ovule- 



