Stylodium

a part of the carpel in the flower of angiospermous plants between the ovary and the stigma. In an apocarpous gynoecium, in which the carpels are not concresced and each one forms an independent pistil, the number of stylodia corresponds to the number of carpels. For example, Ranunculus have many stylodia, and Leguminosae only one. In a syncarpous gynoecium, in which the carpels concresce only in the region of the ovary, there are two or more stylodia, for example, in Caryophyllaceae. When the carpels concresce above the ovary, a single style is formed instead of several stylodia. The function of the stylodium is the same as that of the style.