ABSTRACT
In evolutionally more advanced taxa, the carpel of an apocarpous gynoecium differentiates into a lower, broadened fertile portion, the ovary, in whose chamber (locule) ovules are formed, and an upper, tapered, sterile portion, the stylodium. In the most primitive taxa, stylodia are lacking. Formation of a syncarpous gynoecium primarily involves fusion of fertile parts of carpels (ovaries) as well as of stylodia to form a style.
