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fay 142 5‘ Structural a @ Physiological Botany. 
THE GYN/CEUM OR PISTIL. | 
The Pistil consists, in its most perfect form (Fig. 287), of 
- three” parts :—the lowermost swollen part, a hollow cavity 
3 containing the ovules, is the ovary; the 
middle slenderer part is the style; and the 
uppermost usually thicker part is the sézgma. 
The pistil is composed of 
one or more organs of a foliar 
nature, the carfels ; and their 
number is almost always indi- 
cated by the seams or sutures 
on the outside of the ovary. 
A knowledge may thus be ob- 
tained of the constitution of 
tne fruit, which is often charac- 
eiess287_— Pistil of! Hic. 288, Legume teristic of “whole Hanwlicemas 
lily, with ovary, of Astragalus, 
style, and stigma. _ partly cut through. plants. Thus, from the struc- 
ture of the legume (Fig. 288) it may be concluded that it 
consists of a single carpel; while in the same manner it is 
seen that the capsule of Colchicum (Fig. 289) is composed of 
three carpels. 
If a suture faces the centre of the flower, it is called the 
ventral suture ; while one facing the perianth is called the 
dorsal suture. It is common for the carpels of which a 
‘pistil consists to be coherent at the base while distinct in 
the upper part, and we have then a single ovary with several 
styles or stigmas, asin the apple. As a general rule the 
style and stigma are a prolongation of the mid-nb of the 
-carpel, although exceptions occur, as in the Papaveracee. 
Pistils which consist of a single carpel are said to be mono-— 
carpellary [as in Leguminose and Primulaceze]; when of 
‘two or more carpels dzcarpellary, tricarpellary, polycarfel- 
lary, &c.; [an instance of the first being afforded by Scrophu- 
lariacee ; of the second by Iridez; of the last by Mal- 
vacee |. 
