. Botany of the living plant. Botany. 286 BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT the carpel of Anemone only a single ovule matures, though several are initiated but remain vestigial (Fig. 22S, a). In Rue and Buttercup only a single ovule is present (Fig. 228 b, 229). On the other hand, the number of carpels in the Helleboreae is about five ; but a much larger number are present in Anemone or Buttercup ; the more numerous carpels make up for the reduction of the ovules to one in each. Similarly in the Leguminosae a primitive type is seen, with many ovules in each carpel in the Pea or Bean. But Copaifera co
. Botany of the living plant. Botany. 286 BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT the carpel of Anemone only a single ovule matures, though several are initiated but remain vestigial (Fig. 22S, a). In Rue and Buttercup only a single ovule is present (Fig. 228 b, 229). On the other hand, the number of carpels in the Helleboreae is about five ; but a much larger number are present in Anemone or Buttercup ; the more numerous carpels make up for the reduction of the ovules to one in each. Similarly in the Leguminosae a primitive type is seen, with many ovules in each carpel in the Pea or Bean. But Copaifera contains but two ovules, of which one only ripens into an unusually large seed (Fig. 225, p. 282). Again, in the Rosaceae, in Spiraea or Cydonia each carpel is many- ovuled ; but in the Potentilleae, Rubeae and Roseae each has only one. The loss of number is, however, made up by the greater number of carpels. In the Pruneae, on the other hand, the single carpel contains two ovules, of which usually only one matures ; but it grows into a large kernel. The. Fig. 229. Fig. 227. Follicles of .\coiute. (.\fter Figuier.) Fig. 228. a, Carpel of .Anemone, with aborti\'e o\'u1gs. b. Carpel of Thaliciru}}!. (.After Prantl.) Fig. 22<i. .\ehcne or nut of Buttercup. (.After Figuier.) gynoecium of the Oak is trilocular, with two ovules in each ; but only one of the six ovules matures into the seed in the large acorn. The Coco-Nut again shows thi"ee loculi, but onl)' one matures its single very large seed. A similar condition on a smaller scale is seen in Valerianaceae, while the gynoecium, with a single loculus and a single ovule in each flower, becomes the rule in the Teasels and Composites: these may be held to be examples of an extreme state. Such evidence clearl)' indicates a progressive reduction in number of ovules produced and matured in the cases quoted. It often goes with increase in size of the individual seed, as in the Plum, Oak, and Coco-Nut. which gives greater certainty
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