74 
HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. 
united even to their stigmas 
Fig. 189, pistil of Common St. John’s- wort, plainly composed of three simple ones, 
with their ovaries completely united, while their slender styles are separate. 
Fig. 190, same of Shrubby St.' 
John’s-wort, like the last, but withl 
the three styles also grown together 
into one, the little stigmas only sepa- 
rate ; but as it gets older this style 
generally splits down into three, and 
when the pod is ripe it also splits 
into three, plainly showing that this 
compound pistil consists of three 
united into one. On turning now 
to Fig. 8 and Fig. 10 to 12 on the 
same page, it will be seen that the 
pistil in Morning-Glory and in Lily 
Compound Pistils of two and three cells. is a compound one, made of three 
This is shown externally, by the stigma being some- 
what three-lobed in both. And it becomes perfectly evident on cutting the ovary 
in two, bringing to view the three cells (Fig. 12, as in Fig. 189, 190), each an- 
swering to one simple ovary. 
216. So compound ovaries generally have as many cells as there 
are simple pistils or pistil-leaves in their composition ; and have the 
placentas (199) bearing the seeds all joined in the centre : that is, the 
placentas or compound placenta in the axis . But sometimes the 
partitions or divisions between the cells vanish, as in Pinks : then 
the compound pistil is only one-celled. And sometimes there never 
were any partitions ; but the pistil was formed of two, 
three, or more open pistil-leaves grown together from 
the first by their edges, just as petals join to make a 
monopetalous corolla. Then the ovules or seeds, or 
the placentas that bear them, are parietal , that is, are 
borne on the parietes or wall of the ovary. Fig. 191 
is the lower part of a compound ovary, with three pa- 
rietal placentas or seed-bearing lines; and Fig. 192 is 
a diagram, to explain how such a pistil is supposed to be made of three leaves united 
by their edges, and these edges bearing the ovules or seeds. 
192 
One-celled compound ovary, with placenta 
parietal. 
