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THE GYNCECEUM (. DESCRIPTION ) 
Descriptive terms , &c. The gynoeceum (often called ovary, though 
this name belongs strictly to the hollow portion 1 ) or carpels may be 
superior (occupying apex of torus above androeceum) or inferior (sunk 
in torus, with epigynous stamens) ; apocarpous (if free), or syncarpous 
(if concrescent carpels) ; of i, 2, 3, ... 00 carpels ( i?iono -, di-, tri -, 
. . .poly car pellary) ; in spirals or whorled ; isomer ous or oligomer ous (p. 70) ; 
radial or zygomorphic in symmetry (p. 31). 
In single carpels the placentation is usually marginal (cf. Ranuncu- 
laceae, Leguminosae) ; in a concrescent gynoeceum it may be axile , 
parietal, free-central , apical, basal (see above). 
The ovary may be unilocular or i-celled (with one chamber, cell, or 
loculus), bi-locular or 'i-celled (with two), tri-locular , &c., to multi- 
locular (with many cavities ; often used for ovaries with more than one 
cavity). The imaginary inner join of the edges of the carpels in a 
concrescent ovary is called the ventral suture, the seam at the midrib 
the dorsal suture. In a unilocular ovary there are sutures at the junctions 
of the carpels. 
The placenta may bear one or many rows of ovules, or a single row, 
or one [solitary) or two ovules ; these points are important in taxonomy. 
The partitions chambering the ovary are called septa or dissepi?nents. 
False septa ( spurious dissepi??ients) or outgrowths of tissue chambering 
the ovary into more loculi than are customary with its particular 
number of carpels and style of concrescence, occur in Cruciferae, 
Linum, Astragalus, Gaylussacia, &c. Cf also Labiatae, Nolanaceae, 
and note the peculiar morphology of Punica and Mesembryanthemum. 
The general shape of the gynoeceum as seen in silhouette, and its 
texture, &c. are described as for a leaf. 
The style if present may be long or short, cylindrical, terete, 
filiform (thread-like), ribbed, curved, &c. It is usually terminal 
(springing from the summit of the ovary) but may be lateral , or 
gynobasic (see Labiatae). It may be single, or there may be as many, 
or twice as many, styles as carpels. 
The stigma or stigmas may be sessile (fig. 5 A, p. 72) or on a style ; 
terminal or lateral on the style ; simple (unbranched) and then often 
capitate (head-like, fig. 5 C) ; lobed (branched into large branches with 
but small bays or sinuses between them, fig. 5 A), bi-, tri- .. .multi-fid 
(with 2, 3... many longer branches, fig. 5 B), radiate (as in poppy); 
sticky, hairy, smooth, &c. When branched, the branches are usually as 
many as the carpels, but in Euphorbiaceae, &c. they are more. 
The ovule may be sessile or stalked [funiculate ; the funicle is 
described if of special interest) ; erect, ascending, horizontal, or pen- 
dulous , according to the angle it makes with the horizon when on the 
placenta, the flower held erect (fig. 5, A, B, C, p. 72). It may be 
orthotropous (or atropous ), when continuing in a line with the funicle 
so that the micropyle is away from the latter, as in Polygonaceae, 
anatropous (fig. 9) when reversed and attached at the side to the 
funicle, the latter then forming a ridge [raphe) on the side of the ovule 
1 The term pistil, nominally equivalent to gynoeceum, is generally 
used as meaning the whole gynoeceum if syncarpous, the single carpel 
if apocarpous. 
