2. what is the difference between a pistil and a carpel

It can happen within the same flower self-pollination or across different flowers cross-pollination. Following pollination, the pollen grains are transferred to the ovary where fertilization occurs. Thereby, the male gametes and the ovules are fused to form the zygote. The zygote develops into an embryo, and further-on the ovules become seeds, and the ovary becomes a fruit.

The below table is provided to highlight the comparison of pistil vs. It is the ovule-bearing reproductive structure in flowers.

They are the female reproductive part of a flower, including the carpel. They consist of style, stigma, and ovary. It can have more than one carpel. The eggs are produced within them. It is the site of fertilization in flowers.

They are not the site of fertilization. The seeds from fertilization are produced in them. There is no specific site for seed production for the pistil. Their function is to disperse seeds. They are not singly meant for seed dispersal. Their number can be determined by counting the carpels. Generally, the flowers with a single carpel and single pistil are represented as G 1 by the floral formula.

However, when a flower contains three free and distinct carpels with separate ovaries, these three can be counted as three pistils. And, tis conditions can be represented as G 3. Figure 2: Pistil a. Moreover, when a flower contains three carpels with a fused ovary, the pistil is considered as a compound pistil.

And, this condition is represented as G 3 by the floral formula. Therefore, in general, the number of ovaries in the flower helps to distinguish the number of pistils while the number of styles helps to distinguish the number of carpels.

Carpel refers to the female reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of an ovary, a stigma, and usually a style, occurring singly or as one of a group, while pistil refers to the ovule-bearing or seed-bearing female organs of a flower.

Thus, this explains the main difference between carpel and pistil. Also, another difference between carpel and pistil is that carpel is made up of an ovary, stigma, and a style while a pistil may contain one or several carpels. You can count the number of carpels by counting the number of separate styles and the number of pistils by counting the number of separate ovaries in the flower.

Hence, functionally, this is the difference between carpel and pistil. The carpel is a set of ovary, stigma, and style. Flowers can have one or more carpels. It can also be defined as the fourth whorl of the flower present in the center. The word pistil is derived from the latin term pistillum, pestle. It can either be the same as an individual carpel as it comprises stigma, style, ovary or a carpels fused together. This means a pistil can have lots of carpels. Carpel is the female part of the flower consisting of stigma, style and ovary.

Pistil can be either the same as an individual carpel or a collection of carpels fused together. Made up of stigma, style and ovary. May contain one or more carpel. Their number can be counted, by counting the number of separate carpel. Their number can be counted by counting the number of separate ovaries in the flower. They function mainly by producing eggs. Egg production is absent in pistil.