









AN ATOMY, AND LIFE-HISTOKY OP THE CONIFERS. 



293 









































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without having traced its course from the beginning, whether 

 the inflorescence be terminal or lateral. For practical purposes, 

 the prolongation of the leaf-shoot beyond the flowers is a mark 

 of the lateral position, as its arrest is an indication of the ter- 

 minal arrangement. In some cases, as in Ginkgo and other 

 Chinese and Japanese forms, the male flowers are stalked, and 

 arranged in umbellate fashion at the ends of short spurs *. 



The physiological significance of the position of the male 



flowers 



growth 



Laricc 







been worked out ; but it would seem probable that some relation 

 might be traced between this arrangement and the nature of the 

 climate. For instance, ceteris paribus, it would seem probable 

 that the newly expanded flowers on the herbaceous shoots would 

 be more likely to suffer from spring frosts and have a less per- 

 fect store of previously assimilated nutriment to draw on than in 

 the case of flowers produced on shoots of the second year. The 

 flowers produced on the second and third year's wood would also 

 have the benefit accruing from division of labour, as the her- 

 baceous shoots of the first season's growth would, in such case, 

 be confined to their duty of extending the plant by the length- 

 ening of the branches (extension-shoots). 



Number and Arrangement. — In some species the flowers are 

 solitary, or dispersed at intervals, as in Araucaria spp., Agathis 

 spp., Torreya, Picea, Laricc, Cedrus, &c. ; whilst in others they 

 are aggregated into close heads, as in Athrotaxis, Sequoia, Tsuga, 

 Sciadopitys ; in long spikes, as in Abies, Picea, Pinus f &c. ; or in 

 single umbels or umbellate cymes, as in Ginkgo, Pseudolarix, 

 Keteleeria, Cunninghamia, &c. 



Sometimes the flowers are sessile or nearly so, as in Laricc ; at 

 other times stalked, as in Pseudolarix, Ginkgo, some species of 

 Abies, &c ; and in some species of Po do carpus the floral axis is 

 branched. 



The following list will suffice to show the most usual arange- 

 ments : 







Male flowers terminal, spicifi 



Most Cupressineae, 



some species of Juniperus, Taxodium, Sequoia, Athro taxis, Phyl- 



Microca 





Pseudola 



and for Ketel 



urn. Linn. Soc., Bot 

 Soc. Hort. Toscan. 



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