inflorescence flower gynoecium pistil style (Q1656)

A narrow, usually elongate, ontogenetically distal portion of a simple or compound pistil, overtopping the ovary and bearing one or more stigmas; arising from the summit of the ovary, but sometimes apparently from its base at maturity to ontogenetic displacement from its primordial distal position. In a compound pistil the various simple (carpellary) components of the style(s) may not be connate over their entire lengths; the pistil is then regarded as having a branched style or styles.