THE PISTILLATE OR FEMALE FLOWER 



29 



Some Flowers are Imperfect. — It does not foJlow that because con- 

 structed for the production of seeds, a flower is always capable of per- 

 forming this office independently, and, indeed, such is pot the case with 

 the flower under consideration, which is, therefore, an Imperfect one. 



Sex and Sexual Reproduction. — Minute microscopical examination 

 discloses within the bodies which are to become seeds, minute structures 

 called Macrospores, which, after germination and growth in that place, 

 produce cells comparable, in their essential characters, to the ova of 

 animals, and requiring a similar fertihzing process to cause their develop- 

 ment.* Flowers, or at least certain of their products, are thus seen to 

 possess sex and to be capable of performing sexual reproduction, or 

 reproduction proper. Commonly, both sexual parts are present in one 

 flower, and of these the female, the 2-leaved branch here considered, 

 and in this case all that there is to the flower, is called the Gynaecium, 

 frequently represented by the symbol G. 



Fig. 11. Willow twig with axillary buds developed into (a) male flower-bearing branches. 12. Scale 

 (modified leaf) from 11, a, with its axillary branch developed into a male flower consisting of two 

 stamens, a, position of node; h, scale; c, filament; rf, anther. 13. Abnormal willow twig, tlie scales 

 (o) of its flower-bearing branch intermediate between the ordinary form and the leaf. 



The Gynaecium is Composed of One or More Pistils. — In Fig. 47, the 

 gynaecium consists of five such bodies, and in other flowers it consists 

 of various numbers. One of them is called a Pistil, so the gynaecium 

 may consist of but one, or of any number of pistils. 



The Pistillate or Female Flower. — This flower (Fig. 9) possesses only 

 the gynaecium, and is therefore often spoken of as a "Female Flower," 

 technically a Pistillate flower, and indicated by the symbol ^. 



* For an explanation of this subject see Chapter IX. 



