204 



MANUAL OP BOTANY 



latter cases, therefore, the geometrical and organic apices of the 

 ovary do not correspond, as the point of origin of the style always 

 determines the latter. 



The style is generally directly continuous with the ovary, 

 which gradually tapers upwards to it, as in Digitalis ; in such a 

 case it is persistent, and forms a more or less evident part of 

 the fruit ; in other cases, however, there is a kind of articula- 

 tion at the point where the style springs from the ovary, as in 

 Scirpus, and then the style always falls off after the process of 

 fertilisation is completed. It is then said to be deciduous, and 

 has no connection with the fruit. 



Fig. 444. 



Fig. 445. 



7'Vj/. 444. Pistillate flower of oue of the ^(y^Aoriiacett. c. Calyx. ^,^. Petals. 

 t. Membranous expansion round the ovary, o. Ovary with three styles, 



s, each of which is twice-forked. Fig. 445. Ovary of the Castor-oil Plant 



{Hidnus commmns), belonging to the EuphorbiaceEe. The styles in this 

 case are ouce-forted. 



When the style is basilar or lateral, and the ovary to which 

 it is attached more or less imbedded in the thalamus, it fre- 

 quently appears to spring from the latter ; such an arrangement 

 is called a gynohase, and the ovary is said to be gynobasic. 

 Thus in the Labiatae (fig. 412) and Boraginacese {fig-- 413) the 

 ovaries are free, but the styles, which spring from their bases, 

 become connected and form a central column, which appears 

 therefore as if it were a prolongation of the thalamus. 



Such an arrangement must not be confounded with that oi 

 the ovaries and styles of the species of Gercmiu-rn (fig. 443), and 

 some other plants, where the axis itself is prolonged in the form 

 of a beak-like process, to which the ovaries and styles become 



