CHAPTER VI 



THE GYNAECIUM 



Gymnospermous and Angiospermous Gynaecia. — Two distinct tj'pes 

 of the gynaecium respectively characterize the Gymnosperms and the 

 Angiosperms, both of which classes contribute important medicinal 

 plants. What has been said of the gynaecium in our consideration of 

 the general nature of the flower, pertains wholly to the latter class. A 

 few words concerning the former may be written before taking up our 

 detailed study of the latter. 



The Gymnospermous Pistil. — The essential character of the gymno- 

 spermous pistil is illustrated in Fig. 174. This consists in its not being 

 shaped into an enclosure for containing the ovules. In the form here 



figured there is no progress toward 

 such a condition, the carpel remain- 

 ing more or less flat and bearing the 

 ovules upon its surface; but in the 

 progressive forms there is a cavity, 

 which, however, is never completely 

 enclosed. A high development of it 

 is found in the Taxus or Yew (Fig. 

 175), in which the cavity is deep and 

 open only at the very apex. The 

 pseudo-cavity of the gymnospermous 

 carpel is never di^-ided. It is evi- 

 dent that no true style or stigma can exist in this class of plants, 

 although it must be understood that there is an organ performing the 

 same function of providing for the germination and growth of the 

 microspore, the possession of such an organ being the one distinction 

 between the flowering and flowerless plants. 



Review. — It has been shown that the gynaecium of Angiosperms, 

 except in those rare cases in which a central appendage of the torus is 

 projected upward, occupies the center or summit of the flower; that it 

 consists of one or more carpels or carpophylls which may be all coherent 

 into a single pistil, the Syncarpous, Gamocarpous or Compound Pistil 

 (Fig. 218, etc.), or may each form a separate pistil, the Apocarpous 



Fig. 174. Entirely plane gymnospermous 

 carpel of Pinus. 175. Cup-shaped gymno- 

 spermous carpel of Taxus. 



