Describing flowers where the sepals, petals, and stamens appear to arise from above or on top of the ovary, making the ovary inferior. The ovary is embedded in or fused with the receptacle tissue.
From Greek 'epi' meaning upon or above and 'gyne' meaning woman or female, literally meaning 'above the female parts.' This botanical term indicates that other floral parts appear to originate from above the ovary position.
Epigynous flowers flip the script completely - the ovary is buried underground like a basement apartment while the petals and stamens party on the roof above it, which is why apples and pears have their seeds in the middle rather than at the bottom!
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