a. Bot. [f. EPI- + gyn- (in Bot. used for ‘female organ, pistil’; a. Gr. γυν-ή) + -OUS.] That is placed upon the ovary; growing upon the summit of the ovary. Said of the stamens or corolla; hence of plants in which these are so placed.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., Introd. xxvii. [The Stamens] appear to proceed from the apex of an inferior ovarium, in which case they are named epigynous.
1882. Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 559. The flower finally is epigynous when it possesses an actually inferior ovary.
So Epigyny, the character or quality of being epigynous.
1887. Athenæum, 10 Dec., 787/3. The shortening of the axis within the flower itself, giving the transition from hypogyny through perigyny to epigyny.
