THE PISTIL. 



65 



cages of the contiguous carpels. The edges of the carpellary leaf (or sometimes its 



inner surface) present one or more small round bodies, attached to it directly or by a 



cord; these are the ovules, and will eventually become the 



seeds; the edges or surfaces bearing the ovules are the 



placentm; the cord uniting the ovule to the placenta is the 



ftinicle ; the limb of the carpellary leaf is the ovary ; the upper 



portion of this limb, -when it forms a slender prolongation, 



370. Hellebore. 

 Pistil. 



873. Stellaria. 

 Piistil. 



376. Primrose. 

 Pistil (mag.). 



375. Lily. 

 PistU. 



becomes the style ; the extremity or top, which is variable in form, and always 

 formed of a different tissue, is the stigma. 



In the polycarpellary pistil the carpels are :— 1, entirely separate (c. distincta, 

 Columbine, fig. 12; Thalictrum, fig. 364; Hellebore, fig. 370) ; 2, coherent by their 

 ovaries at the base only, or half-way up {Fennel, fig. 371), or to the top {Flax, fig. 

 372; Stellaria, fig. 373); 3, coherent by their ovaries and styles {Cactus, &g. 374; 

 Lily, fig. 376) ; 4, coherent by their ovaries, styles and stigmas, so as to simulate 

 a solitary carpel {Primrose, fig. 876 ; Heartsease, fig. 377) ; 5, 

 coherent by their styles and stigmas only, their ovaries being 

 free {Periwinkle, fig. 454 ; Asclepias, fig. 361). 



Modern botanists, in deference to old 

 usage, have continued to give the name of 

 ovary to the union of several ovaries, which 

 thus form a compound ovary ; they have 

 similarly retained the names of style, stigma, 

 placenta, for the confluent styles, stigmas and 

 placentas of several carpels. . 



When the ovaries are free, their edges, 

 being folded inwards and united towards the centre of the flower, form an apparently 

 single, but really double placenta, which, when the fruit ripens, often splits into 

 two partially seed-bearing placentas {Columbine, fig. 13 ; Sedum, fig. 378). In some 

 very rare cases {Pine, fig. 379; Fir, Cypress, Thuja) the carpels remain long spread 

 open and quite free ; later they approach and their surfaces unite, but without 

 consolidating, and they thus form closed cavities in which the seeds are sheltered. 



The ovary, whether simple or compound, is superior or /ree {ov.superum, liberum), 

 when it adheres to none df the neighbouring organs {Lychnis, fig. 380 ; Primrose, 



p 



379. Pine. 

 OvTiliferous scale repiBsent 

 ing a carpel spread out, 'with 

 neither style nor stigma. 



