style2 (stil)

[Formerly also stile (in sense 1); Then turne the globe vntyll the style that sheweth the houre be coom me to the houre in the whiche yowe sowght the vnknowen of the moone. R. Eden , tr. of Gemma Phrysius (First Books on America, IMG:content-2334.png:[ocr errors] [ed. Arber, p. 889). 3. In bot., a narrowed extension of the ovary, which, when present, supports the stigma. It is usually slender, and in that case of varying length, often elongated, as in honeysuckle, fuchsia, and in an extreme case Indian corn (forming its "silk"); sometimes it is thick and short, as in squash, grape-vine, etc.; sometimes wholly wanting, leaving the stigma se ile. Morphologically it is the attenuated tip of the carpel, hence equaling the carpels in number, except when, as in many compound pistils, the styles are consolidated. It is said to be simple when undivided, even if formed by the union of several. When cleft or slit it is bifid, trifid, etc.; when more deeply separated it is bipartite, tripartite, etc. According to the conform a a, style; d, stigma. tion of the carpel, the style may be ter minal, rising from its summit, as is typically the case, or lateral, as in strawberry and cinque foil, or basal, as in comfrey and salvia - the carpel being in these last cases more or le bent over. In position it may be erect, ascending, declinate, recurved, etc.; in form it may be filiform, subulate, trigonal, claviform, petaloid, etc. In relation to the corolla or calyx it may be included or exserted. A style may be persistent, but is commonly caducous, falling soon after fecundation. The function of the style is to present the stigma in a position advantageously to receive the pollen, and to form a medium for its communication to the ovules; accordingly, it has the structure Campanula sp. of a tube filled or lined with conductive ti ue of the same nature as that which composes the stigma. See pis til, ovary, pollen - tube, and stigma.