carpel The female reproductive organ of a flower. Typically it consists of a stigma, style, and ovary. It is thought to have evolved by the fusion of the two edges of a flattened megasporophyll (see sporophyll). Each flower may have one carpel (monocarpellary) or many (polycarpellary), either free (apocarpous) or fused together (syncarpous). See also pistil.

car·pel / ˈkärpəl/ • n. Bot. the female reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of an ovary, a stigma, and usually a style. It may occur singly or as one of a group.DERIVATIVES: car·pel·lar·y / -ˌlerē/ adj.

carpel One of the female reproductive organs of the flower, i.e. a unit of the gynoecium, comprising an ovary (containing 1 to many ovules borne on a placenta) and with a usually terminal style tipped by the stigma.

carpel Female reproductive part of a flowering plant. A carpel consists of a stigma, a style and an ovary. A group of carpels make up the gynoecium, the complete female reproductive structure within a flower.

carpel (bot.) division of a compound pistil or fruit. XIX. — F. carpelle or modL. carpellum, f. Gr. karpós fruit (cf. HARVEST); see -EL 2.