Carpel definition

kärpəl
carpels
See word origin
Frequency:
One of the structural units of a pistil, representing a modified, ovule-bearing leaf.
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A simple pistil, regarded as a single ovule-bearing leaf or modified leaflike structure.
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Any of the segments of a compound pistil, usually having a single stigma.
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One of the individual female reproductive organs in a flower. A carpel is composed of an ovary, a style, and a stigma, although some flowers have carpels without a distinct style. In origin, carpels are leaves (megasporophylls) that have evolved to enclose the ovules. The term pistil is sometimes used to refer to a single carpel or to several carpels fused together.
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One of the individual female reproductive organs in a flower. A carpel is composed of an ovary, a style, and a stigma, although some flowers have carpels without a distinct style. In origin, carpels are leaves (megasporophylls) that have evolved to enclose the ovules. The term pistil is sometimes used to refer to a single carpel or to several carpels fused together.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
carpel
Plural:
carpels

Origin of carpel

  • New Latin carpellum from Greek karpos fruit kerp- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From French carpelle.

    From Wiktionary

Carpel Sentence Examples

  • Each carpel has its own ovary, style (when present), and stigma, and may be regarded as formed by a folded leaf, the upper surface of which is turned inwards towards the axis, and the lower outwards, while from its margins are developed one or more ovules.

  • When the pistil is formed by one carpel the inner margins unite and form usually a common marginal placenta, which may extend FIG.

  • The morphology of the female flowers has been variously interpreted by botanists; the peduncle bearing the ovules has been described as homologous with the petiole of a foliage-leaf and as a shoot-structure, the collar-like envelope at the base of the ovules being referred to as a second integument or arillus, or as the representative of a carpel.

  • When in a compound pistil the style of each carpel is thus displaced, it appears as if the ovary were depressed in the centre, and the style rising from the depression in the midst of the carpels seems to come from the torus.

  • Similarly in the sporophylls of some cycads the bundles are endarch near the base and mesarch near the distal end of the stamen or carpel.

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Words near carpel in the Dictionary