What is "gynoecium"

Gynoecium \Gy*n[oe]"ci*um\ (j[i^]*n[=e]"s[i^]*[u^]m or -sh[i^]*[u^]m), n. [NL., fr. Gr. gynh` a woman + o'i^kos house.] (Bot.) The pistils of a flower, taken collectively. See Illust. of Carpophore.

n. (context botany English) The pistils of a flower considered as a group

1. n. a female gametoecium

2. [also: gynoecia (pl), gynoecea (pl)]

Gynoecium (from Ancient Greek , gyne, meaning woman, and , oikos, meaning house) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of (one or more) pistils in a flower and is typically surrounded by the pollen-producing reproductive organs, the stamens, collectively called the androecium. The gynoecium is often referred to as the " female" portion of the flower, although rather than directly producing female gametes (i.e. egg cells), the gynoecium produces megaspores, each of which develops into a female gametophyte which then produces egg cells.

The term gynoecium is also used by botanists to refer to a cluster of archegonia and any associated modified leaves or stems present on a gametophyte shoot in mosses, liverworts and hornworts.

Flowers that bear a gynoecium but no androecium are called carpellate. Flowers lacking a gynoecium are called staminate.

The gynoecium is often referred to as female because it gives rise to female (egg-producing) gametophytes, however, strictly speaking sporophytes do not have sex, only gametophytes do.

Gynoecium development and arrangement is important in systematic research and identification of angiosperms, but can be the most challenging of the floral parts to interpret.