1380 
INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY 
Stamens are often joined by their filaments so as to form 
one, two, three (fig. 109), or several groups. In other cases 
they are joined by their anthers into a single group which 
Fre. 109. Flower 
of St.-John’s-wort, 
with the numerous ‘ th 
stamens in three °FCCS; e 
groups carpel con- 
The sepalsand petals SISts of a 
have been removed. scale of the 
After Warming 
seed-bear- 
ing cone (fig. 224). Hach 
young scale bears at its 
base an ovule, or rudi- 
mentary seed. Among the 
higher flowering plants the 
carpel produces the ovules 
inside a cavity known as 
the ovary (fig. 112). 
The carpellary portion 
of the flower of the higher 
seed plants (whether it con- 
sists of one or more carpels) 
is known as the pistil. Evi- 
dently, if the flower has but 
one carpel (fig. 105), the 
Fic. 110, Stamens 
of a thistle, with 
anthers united into 
a ring 
a, united anthers ; f, 
filaments, bearded 
on the sides. After 
Baillon 
surrounds the pistil (fig. 110). In the latter 
ease the pollen is often at length forced out 
of the anther tube in a single mass by the 
lengthening pistil (fig. 111). 
121. Carpel and pistil. Although the entire 
flower is more or less engaged in the work 
of seed production, it is the carpel (from a 
Greek word meaning “ fruit”) in which the 
rudimentary seeds, or ovules, originate. In 
its simplest form, as in the pines and related 
Fic. 111. A single 
flower of the hun- 
dred or more which 
compose the head 
of flowers of the 
Canada thistle 
a, the anthers united 
to form a tube; p, 
the clump of pollen 
grains forced out 
from the anther tube 
by the lengthening of 
the pistil within the 
tube. After H. Miiller 
words carpel and pistil as applied to such a flower mean. the 
same thing. If there are several carpels, each is one of the 
units of which the entire pistil is built (fig. 102). A pistil 
