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The stigma, together with the style and ovary (typically called the stigma-style-ovary system) comprises the pistil, which is part of the gynoecium or female reproductive organ of a plant. The stigma itself forms the distal portion of the style, or stylodia, and is composed of stigmatic papillae , the cells of which are receptive to pollen.
Diagram of a blooming flower showing the position of the style. In botany, the style of an angiosperm flower is an organ of variable length that connects the ovary to the stigma. [1] The style does not contain ovules; these are limited to the region of the gynoecium (female organs of the flower) called the "ovary".
If the styles and stigmas are distinct, they can usually be counted to determine the number of carpels. Within the compound ovary, the carpels may have distinct locules divided by walls called septa. If a syncarpous gynoecium has a single style and stigma and a single locule in the ovary, it may be necessary to examine how the ovules are attached.
Above the ovary is the style and the stigma, which is where the pollen lands and germinates to grow down through the style to the ovary, and, for each individual pollen grain, to fertilize one individual ovule. Some wind pollinated flowers have much reduced and modified ovaries.
The style is variable in length, from less than 0.5 mm (subsessile stigma) to more than 30 cm in certain varieties of maize, which is known as corn silk. It is usually borne at the apex of the ovary, but may be lateral or apparently borne at the base (gynobasic style). [20] From the anatomical point of view, the style can be solid or hollow.
Close-up of a Schlumbergera flower, showing part of the gynoecium (specifically the stigma and part of the style) and the stamens that surround it. Plant reproductive morphology is the study of the physical form and structure (the morphology) of those parts of plants directly or indirectly concerned with sexual reproduction.
The stigma plays a role in guiding the sperm to a receptive ovule, in the case of many ovules. [11] Only compatible pollen grains are allowed to grow as determined by signaling with the stigma. In the pollen grain, the generative cell gives rise to the sperm, whereas the vegetative cells have a tube cell that grows the pollen tube.
Corn silk is a common name for Stigma maydis, the shiny, thread-like, weak fibers that grow as part of ears of corn (maize); the tuft or tassel of silky fibers that protrude from the tip of the ear of corn. The ear is enclosed in modified leaves called husks. Each individual fiber is an elongated style, attached to an individual ovary. [1]