Pistil Login         

Pale Yellow Mariposa. Click the picture to zoom.

 A pistil is the female part of a flower. It provides a place for pollen to fall (a stigma), and holds ovaries at its base that will develop if fertilized by pollen from another plant.

In this picture, the pistil is the pale green structure in the center. Its top divides into three stigmas. When pollen falls on the stigma, it extends a tube down the style (the erect part of the pistil) to the ovary at the bottom of the pistil, fertilizing it.

The 6 orange structures are called anthers, and hold pollen that needs to be distributed to a different flower. Anthers perch on the top of stamens - the male part of the flower.