OVULE. 



91 



in Ihe margin of the carpels. It is admitted tliat the mar^^ins 

 of leaves usually give rise to buds as in the 7^r//(>j>A ////»/ ;;i, ulien 

 Ihev produce them at all, yet in a single case nuMitioned hy 

 Turpin, thev were lound issuing iVom all parts of the surface ; 

 it is therefore concludcnl, that in all cases where the placenta 

 is on the surface otthe carpel, it corresponds to tlie case of 

 the Ornidiogdhimy mentioned by Turpi n. 



Schleiden rejects t!ie theory of the margin of carpels giving 

 rise to the placenta, 1 ut considers the placenta an elongation 

 of the axis. In cases of jnirietal placenta; he considers thein 

 as the result of a branching axis. Raspail says that the style 

 penetrates into the ovary and forms the placenta. 



Our space forbids adducing the arguments by which 

 these hyputhcses are sujiported. That each is true in certain 

 cases is possible, but we do not believe it is often the case. 



The extremity of the axis, which supports the carpels is 

 called 'the recejitaclr. In some cases it is merely the end of 

 the flower bearing !)ranches without having undergone any 

 moditication ; at others, it is an ex[)anded disk and is called a 

 torus. When it rises from the basis of the calyx, bearing the 

 stamens as in the Magnolia, it is called Gynophore. When it 

 is succulent bearing many ovaries as in the Strawberry, it is 

 called Poh/}>hore. We have the Gynohasc when a fleshy re- 

 ceptacle has but a single row of carpels inclined towards the 

 center. 



Ovule. 



107. The Ovule is the seed in its incipient state. It is al- 

 ways attached to the placenta, from which it arises and re- 

 ceives its nourishment. In its earliest slate it is a mere tu- 

 bercular homogeneous projection from the placenta, semi-trans- 

 parent and pulpy, exhibiting few marks of what it becomes 

 in the course of development. The cord by which the ovule 

 'rt is attached to the placenta is called 



/|^l^/w//i/c?//w.v, fig. 114, a, wiiich exhibits 

 an ovule of the Lepidium, and the point 

 of the ovule to which it is attached is 

 J called the hilum. The base of the 

 ovule is the point where the funiculus 

 is attached, and the opposite point the 

 axis is its apex. As the ovule advances 

 in growth it consists of several parts, a 

 central, fleshy, pointed body, called the 

 nucleus, fig. ^114, c. which is enclosed in 



