BOTANY. 91 
The ovary may be either free in the centre of the flower, or it may be 
adherent, especially to the calyx. When this is united throughout it becomes 
superior, the ovary itself being inferior. When the union takes place but in 
part, the ovary 1s half inferior, and the calyx half superior. 
The Styx, which proceeds from the summit of the carpel, may be con- 
‘sidered as the upward prolongation of this, and hence called apicilar. The 
earpellary leaf may be so folded that the style appears to proceed from the 
side of the ovary ; in this case it is lateral, and basilar when proceeding from 
the base. When the ovaries are grouped around a central prolongation of the 
torus, continuous with a united columnar style, the arrangement is termed a 
gynobase. ‘The style, although usually smooth, may be coated with hairs, 
termed collecting hairs, which aid in distributing the pollen. When the 
styles of a syncarpous ypistil are united completely into a single one, this is 
said to be simple ; when the union is only partial, the style is bifid, trifid, 
&c.; and bipartite, tripartite, &c., when the union extends but a short dis- 
tance above the apex of the ovary. <A style which falls off after fertilization 
is said to be decidious, otherwise it is persistent. 
The Stigma terminates the style, and is usually in direct communication 
with the placenta. Its position may be either terminal or lateral. It consists 
of loose cellular tissue, and secretes a viscid matter which retains the pollen, 
and causes it to protrude tubes. A stigma which is divided by one or more 
grooves may be bilobed, trilobed, &c., or bilamellar, trilamellar, &c., accord- 
ing as the partial divisions are rounded or flattened. The form of the stigma 
varies considerably. 
In Cryprocamous Piants there are organs termed pistillidia, supposed 
to perform the functions of pistils, which consist of hollow cavities, termed 
sporangia, or thece, and containing the equivalents of ovules termed spores. 
The sporangia may be immersed in the body of the plant, or supported on 
stalks, termed sete. 
The Ovute is attached to the placenta, and is destined to produce the 
future plant. Although usually embraced within an ovary, in some cases 
it has no proper covering, then called naked. <A partial inclosing by the: 
carpellary leaves renders the ovules seminude. The ovule may be attached 
to the placenta, either directly, when it is sessile, or by the intervention of 
a prolongation of the latter, termed funiculus, umbilical cord, or podosperm. 
The placenta is sometimes called the trophosperm. The part by which the 
ovule is attached to the placenta is known as the base or hilum, the opposite 
extremity being the aper. The ovule consists of a cellular mass, termed 
the nucleus, inclosing a cavity in which the embryo is suspended by a 
thread-like cellular process, called suspensor, and attached to the summit 
of the nucleus. In some cases the cavity is lined by an epithelial 
membrane, which constitutes the embryo-sac, containing the ammnios, a 
mucilaginous fluid in which the embryo forms. The nucleus itself may be 
either naked or enveloped in one or two coverings; when two are present 
the outer is called primine, the inner, secundine. These integuments leave 
an opening at the apex of the nucleus composed of two apertures ; the one 
in the primine, called erostome, the other in the secundine, termed endostome. 
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