THE WHITE LILY 179 



it remains hanging on the burst anthers, for the grains 

 are made sticky by the presence among them of 

 innumerable drops of oil, of an orange colour. 



c. Structure of the Pistil 



The pistil has a very different structure from that 

 of the Wallflower, though it resembles that of many 

 other Dicotyledons, so that the differences in question 

 are not characteristic of the two Classes. We 

 have already seen that each of the three carpels 

 arises as a ridge, shaped like a horseshoe, on the 

 growing point of the flower; very soon the ridge is 

 completed on the inner side of each carpel, which thus 

 becomes a closed ring. Where the carpels join on to 

 each other they are completely united from the first, 

 the wall separating their cavities being a single, and 

 not a double one; the pistil is, in fact, completely 

 syncarpous. Henceforward growth goes on at the base 

 of the pistil, and so the whole structure grows up into 

 a triple tube. At last the upper edges of each 

 carpel join together at the top, so as to .close the tubes. 

 The upper closed part of the pistil develops into the 

 style. At the extreme tip the three carpels remain 

 partly distinct, forming the three lobes of the stigma 

 (see Fig. 82, stiff), which here correspond in position 

 to the carpels, unlike the arrangement which we found 

 in the Wallflower. 



The ovules develop from the inner angle of each 

 of the united carpels, forming two rows in each carpel 

 (see diagram, Fig. 78). This placentation is known as 

 axile. 



