8 TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY 



like structures, the yellow petals, which are the largest and 

 most conspicuous parts of the flower ; they are attached be- 

 low to the sepals and are grown together with each other 

 about half-way up, their outer ends being free and spreading. 

 In the very center of the flower is the pistil. The upper end 

 of the pistil is the stigma, composed of three lobes having a 

 very rough surface ; each lobe is two-parted. Below the 

 stigma is the style, a short stalk that connects the stigma 

 with the green, swollen, spiny lower part of the pistil, the 

 ovary. The ovary seems to be below the petals and sepals, 



FIG. 4. A , a pistillate flower of the cucumber ; a, sepal ; b, petal ; 

 c, stigma ; d, style ; e, ovary. B, a staminate flower ; /, filament ; g, anther. 



as though these parts of the flower were growing out of its 

 top, but really the lower parts of the sepals and petals have 

 grown closely together with the wall of the ovary. Below 

 the ovary is the short flower-stalk. A section cut across the 

 ovary shows that it is divided by cracks, usually three in 

 number, each of which begins at the center of the ovary and, 

 as it approaches the outer wall, divides into two branches 

 that curve inward toward the center. In the branch cracks 

 are found a number of small rounded swellings, the ovules. 

 The way in which the ovules are attached to the solid flesh 

 of the ovary cannot well be made out except in thin, specially 

 colored sections. 



