LESSON 12.] 



ITS PAKTS OR ORGANS. 



87 



Fig. 169, d, but on a larger scale, and with the ovary cut across, 

 shows the ovules as they appear in a transverse 

 section. The sti/le (Fig. 171, 6) is the tapering 

 part above, sometimes long and slender, sometimes 

 short, and not rarely altogether wanting, for it is 

 not an essential part, like the two others. The 

 stigma [c) is the tip or some other portion of the 

 style (or of the top of the ovary when there is no 

 distinct style), consisting of loose tissue, not cov- 

 ered, like the rest of the plant, by a skin or epi- 

 dermis. It is upon the stigma that the pollen 

 falls ; and the result is, that the ovules contained 

 in the ovary are fertilized and become seeds, by 

 having an embryo (16) formed in them. To the- 

 pistil, therefore, all the other organs of the blos- 

 som are in some way or other subservient : the 

 stamens furnish pollen to fertilizS its ovules ; the 

 corolla and the calyx form coverings which pro- "^ 



tect the whole. 



234'. These are all the parts which belong to any flower. But 

 these parts appear under a variety of forms and combinations, some 

 of them greatly-disguising their natural appearance. To understand 

 the flower, therefore, under whatever guise iti may assume, we must 

 study its plan. 



