Ovary

The ovary (From Latin: ovarium, literally "egg" or "nut") is an ovum-producing reproductive organ, often found in pairs in the female as part of the vertebrate female reproductive system. Birds have only one functional ovary (left), while the other remains vestigial. Ovaries in female are analogous to testes in male, in that they are both gonads and endocrine glands. Although ovaries occur in a wide variety of animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, this article is primarily about human ovaries.

Structure

In the case of human ovaries, each one is whitish in color and located alongside the lateral wall of the uterus in a region called the ovarian fossa. The fossa usually lies beneath the external iliac artery and in front of the ureter and the internal iliac artery. It is about 4 cm x 3 cm x 2 cm in size.

Usually, ovulation occurs in one of the two ovaries (at random) releasing a fertilizable egg each menstrual cycle; however, if there was a case where one ovary was absent or dysfunctional then the other ovary would continue providing eggs to be released without any changes in cycle length or frequency.

Ovary (botany)

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.

Fruits

A fruit is the ripened ovary or ovaries—together with seeds—from one or more flowers. The fruits of a plant are responsible for dispersing the seeds that contain the embryo and protecting the seeds as well. In many species, the fruit incorporates some surrounding tissues, or is dispersed with some non-fruit tissues.