CHAP. II. 
OVARY. 
163 
ultimately becomes the fruit ; and consequently, whatever may 
be the structure of the ovary, such must necessarily be that of 
the fruit : allowance being made, as will hereafter be ex- 
plained, for changes that may occur during the progress of the 
ovary to maturity. 
Notwithstanding what has been stated of the pistil con- 
stantly occupying the centre of the flower, and being the part 
around which all the other parts are arranged, an apparent 
exception exists in those flowers the calyx of which is said to 
be superior (Plate V. fig. 7.& 9.), as the Apple blossom. In 
this instance the ovary seems to originate below the calyx, 
corolla, and male system ; on which account it is said to be 
inferior in such cases, while in the opposite state it is called 
superior. But in reality, the inferior ovary is only so in con- 
sequence of the tube of the calyx contracting an adhesion with 
its sides ; and such being the case, the exactness of the descrip- 
tion of the constant place of the pistillum as above is unshaken. 
This is proved in many ways. In Saxifrageae, the genus 
Leiogyne has the ovary superior ; in Saxifraga itself the 
calyx partially adheres to the sides of the ovary, which then 
becomes half inferior, while in Chrysosplenium the union 
between the calyx and ovary is complete, and the latter is 
wholly inferior. Again, in Pomaceae, the ovaries partially 
cohere with the calyx in Photinia, completely in Pyrus, and 
by their backs only in Cotoneaster ; whence the ovary is half 
superior in the first instance, quite inferior in the second, and 
what is called parietal in. the third. Botanists call any thing 
parietal which arises from the inner lining or wall of an organ; 
thus in Cotoneaster the ovaries are parietal, because they 
adhere to the inner lining of the calyx, and in Papaver the 
placentae are parietal because they originate in the inner 
lining of the fruit. 
Sometimes the ovary, instead of being sessile, as is usually 
the case, is seated upon a long stalk ; as in the Passion flower 
and the genus Cleome. This stalk is often called the theca- 
phore or gynophore (also hasigynium or podogynium) ; but it is 
obviously analogous to the petiole of a leaf, and the applica- 
tion of a special term to it appears unnecessary. Cassini calls 
the elongated apex of the ovary of some Compositse le plateau, 
M 2 
