Style

Style, the tubular portion of the carpel of angiosperms, that in many cases, but not always, intervenes between the stigma, or viscid receptive surface, and the cavity of the ovary. When the style is absent, as in poppies, the stigma becomes sessile on the ovary. When there are several united carpels forming distinct chambers to the ovary, as in lilies, there may be only one style; or there may be as many as the carpels, as in grasses; or there may be one below, dividing above, as in Iris and the Compositae. The style genera11y rises from the apex of the ovary (terminal), but sometimes, from the growth of the ovary, it becomes lateral, as in the strawberry, or even basilar. In Labiatae and Boraginaceae the united styles of the four-chambered ovary arise laterally and unite from a central depression, and are called qynobasic. Though generally rod-like, the style may be petaloid, as it is, at least in part, in the Iridaceae. When the styles are of different lengths in different individuals of the same species, it may be of importance in cross-pollination. [HETEROSTYLY.] The tube or canal of the style is generally filled with loosely-arranged cells forming the conducting-tissue; but in some cases it is empty. After flowering the style is commonly deciduous; but it persists in the fruit stage in strawberries, blackberries, houndstongue, clematis, etc.