Pistil

pistil (pĭs`tĭl), one of the four basic parts of a flower, the central structure around which are arranged the stamens, the petals, and the sepals. The pistil is usually called the female reproductive organ of a flowering plant, although the actual reproductive structures are microscopic. The pistil has a bulbous base (the ovary) containing the ovules, which develop into seeds after fertilization of egg cell(s) in the ovule. A pistil is composed of one or more highly modified leaves (carpels), each containing one or more ovules. A flower may have one or more simple pistils, each a separate organ, or, in higher orders, a compound pistil, formed of several fused carpels. Usually, there is above the ovary a stalk (the style) bearing on its tip the stigma, where the pollen grains land and germinate (see pollination). The stigma is often sticky or hairy, to retain the pollen. Evolutionary relationships can often be inferred from the location of the ovary in relation to the other parts of the flower. If the stamens, petals, and sepals are attached beneath the ovary, the flower is hypogynous and the ovary is superior; if they are attached above, the ovary is inferior and the flower epigynous; if the ovary is located in a receptacle at the outer edges of which are attached the other flower parts, it is called superior or half-inferior and the flower perigynous. A flower that has one or more pistils but no stamens (or nonfunctional ones) is called pistillate, or female, as distinguished from a staminate, or male, flower, in which the pistil is nonfunctional or absent.

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pistil

Female reproductive part of a flower. Centrally located, the pistil typically has a swollen base called the ovary, which contains the potential seeds (ovules). The stalk (style) arises from the ovary and has a pollen-receptive tip, the stigma, which is variously shaped and often sticky. There may be a single pistil, as in the lily, or several to many pistils, as in the buttercup. Each pistil is constructed of one to many rolled leaflike structures, or carpels. Differences in the composition and form of the pistil are useful in classifying flowering plants. See also stamen.

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pistil

the female reproductive part of a flower, consisting of one or more separate or fused carpels; gynoecium

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pistil [′pist·əl]

(botany)

The ovule-bearing organ of angiosperms; consists of an ovary, a style, and a stigma.

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Pistil 

the reproductive organ of a flower. The pistil, which is located in the center of the flower, typically consists of a hollow and enlarged inferior part—the ovary, a slender and usually cylindrical style or a stylodium, and a stigma. The stigma usually crowns the style or stylodia. If the stylodia are reduced, the stigma sits directly on the ovary. The ovary contains ovules, from which seeds develop after fertilization. The pericarp develops from the walls of the ovary. Thus, the pistil as a whole participates in formation of the fruit. Many botanists consider the term “pistil” to be superfluous because it is synonymous with the apocarpous gynoecium (a simple pistil formed from a single carpel or several free carpels) or with the cenocarpous gynoecium (a compound pistil formed from two or more united carpels).