Carpelo

Carpelo, in botany often referred to as carpel in English, is the female reproductive unit of a flowering plant. The gynoecium, the collective set of carpels, comprises one or more carpels that may be fused or separate. Each carpel typically contains an ovary at the base, a slender style, and a terminal stigma that receives pollen.

Carpels can be simple, consisting of a single unit, or compound, formed by multiple carpels that may be fused to make a single pistil or remain distinct. The interior of the ovary includes one or more ovules, which, after fertilization, develop into seeds. The ovary wall itself often becomes the fruit, while the placenta and placental tissues distribute ovules inside the ovary.

Development and function are tightly linked: pollen lands on the stigma and germinates, producing a pollen tube that grows through the style to reach the ovules in the ovary. Fertilization turns ovules into seeds and typically transforms the ovary into fruit, aiding seed dispersal.

Carpels exhibit substantial morphological variation. In apocarpous flowers, several carpels remain independent, producing multiple distinct pistils; in syncarpous flowers, carpels are fused to form a compound pistil with one or more locules. The study of carpels is central to understanding the diversity of floral forms, fruit types, and reproductive strategies in angiosperms.