Ovules (macrosporanges) enclosed in a cavity (the ovary) formed by the infolding and uniting of the margins of a modified rudimentary leaf (carpel), or of several such leaves joined together, in which the seeds are ripened.
The pollen-grains (microspores) on alighting upon the summit of the carpel (stigma) germinate, sending out a pollen-tube which penetrates its tissue and reaching an ovule enters the orifice of the latter (micropyle), and its tip coming in contact with a germ-cell in the embryo-sac, fertilization is effected. In a few cases the pollen-tube enters the ovule at the chalaza, not at the micropyle.