120 FAMILIAR LESSOi^S 12^ BOTAKY. 



Ovules vary greatly in number : when one in a cell, they 

 are said to be solitary ; when of an uniform number, definite ; 

 when more than are easily counted, indefinite. 



Also as to situation : they are erect when they arise 

 from the bottom of the cell, ascending when fixed above its 

 base and rising obliquely upward; when they project 

 from the side of the cell straight out, neither turning up- 

 ward nor downward, they are liorizontal ; 2)e7idulous when 

 they hang obliquely downward, and suspended when 

 hanging perpendicularly from the top of the cell. 



The (23) Gymnosperms have no ovary or seed-covering, 

 in fact, no pistil except the ovule, which is borne on the 

 upper surface of a carpillary leaf or scale. When the stam- 

 inate flowers are in bloom these conelike pistil-leaves open, 

 and the pollen is showered down in great quantities upon 

 the uncovered ovules. These scales gradually close and 

 remain so during their growing state. When fully ma- 

 tured, the cone again opens, allowing the ripened seed to 

 escape. 



The Coniferse (firs, pines, cjrpress, arbor vitae, etc.) and 

 the Cycadaceae (zamia, etc.) are the two orders of this sub- 

 class. 



All ovules are not of the same form. Some are shaped 

 like an egg, with the hilum exactly opposite to the micro- 

 jpyle ; they are then said to be (24) orthotropal. When the 

 ovule has its point of attachment near the micropyle, with 

 a cordlike swelling on one of its sides (which reaches all 

 along it and is called a (25) raphe), it is said to be 

 (26) anatropal. When it has no raphe, but is bent, and has 

 its point of attachment near the micropyle, it is (27) cam- 

 pylotropal. 



Orthotropous. Anatropous. Campylotropous. 



