In the
flowering plants, an
ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or
gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the
pistil which holds the
ovule(s) and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the
petals and
sepals. The pistil may be made up of one
carpel or of several fused carpels (e.g. tricarpel), and therefore the ovary can contain part of one carpel or parts of several fused carpels. Above the ovary is the
style and the stigma, which is where the
pollen lands and germinates to grow down through the style to the ovary, and, for each individual
pollen grain, to fertilize one individual ovule. Some wind pollinated flowers have much reduced and modified ovaries.