128 



FLOWER OF THE HIGHER SEED PLANTS 



In the lowest of the two great groups of seed plants, the 

 gymnosperms (meaning naked seeds), to which the pines, spruces, 

 cedars, and the like belong, the ovules are 

 borne exposed on the surface of the carpels, 

 which usually have the form of scales. But 

 in the higher group of seed plants, the angio- 

 sperms (meaning seeds in a vessel), the car- 

 pels constitute a part of cases or chambers 

 in which the ovules are formed and which 

 are generally quite closed. 



FIG. 131. Monadel- 155 - The P istiL The term pistil (Latin 

 phous stamens of for pestle) is applied to the closed structure 

 mailow which contains the 



ovules and is formed by the carpels of the 

 angiosperms. This is a more general term 

 than carpel, for it applies to organs com- 

 posed of one or of several FlG - m Diadelphous 

 say '-- Ca . , stamens of sweet pea 



carpels. If a pistil is of one 



carpel it is said to be simple, if of two or more car- 

 pels it is compound. 



The pistil often consists of an enlarged, hol- 

 low portion containing ovules and known as the 

 ovary, 1 a stalk-like style, and a knob or ridged 

 expansion called the stigma (Fig. 133). Not infre- 

 quently the style is wanting and the stigma is 

 FIG 133 P rts sess ^ e (seated) on the ovary. 



of the pistil A flower may contain several or many carpels 



ov, ovary; sty, i n the form of simple pistils separate from one 



style; stig, another, as in the stonecrop and the buttercup 



stigma 



(Figs. 134, 161). When several carpels form a 

 compound pistil the manner and extent of the union is various. 



1 The term ovary is an unfortunate one, since it would seem to mean the 

 organ which bears eggs?. Those who wish to avoid the use of the term may 

 substitute the word ovulary, proposed by Professor Charles R. Barnes, or 

 may simply say ovule case. 



sty- 



