









ANATOMY, 



299 



with the " spurs " bearing the tufts of ordinary leaves, and are 

 arranged on the § plan *. 













The Female Flowebs. 



one or 



The essential portions of the female flower consist of 

 more ovules which are erect or inverted and composed of one 

 coat investing a central nucellus, and sometimes covered from 

 below upwards by a fleshy tubular or annular aril which grows 

 out from the axis, after the formation of the other parts and during 

 the course of their development (Taocm &c). What 



called 



Parlatore, and others to be 



Murray 



ovary 



-Lhe question of angio- or of gymnospermy is, however, one which 

 I do not propose to discuss in this present paper. Outside the 

 ovule is a scale, the seed- or cone-scale, and outside that again 

 another scale, the bract. Frequently the two scales j ust mentioned 

 are more or less completely combined so as to give the appearance 

 of a single organ. The discussion as to the morphological signi- 

 ficance of these several parts may be appropriately deferred until 

 alter a general review has been taken of their appearances in 

 different genera. 



lhe simplest cases occur in the Taxese and Podocarpeae, as for 

 instance in Pherosphcera, in which the bract and seed-scale 

 appear to be one and the same, and are flat, somewhat fleshy, and 

 arranged spirally in spikes at the ends of the branches. Each fer- 

 tile branch here subtends a single erect ovule with no arillus. 



In Saxe-Gothea the structure is equally simple. The flat leaves 

 pass gradually into spirally arranged perulse at regular distances 

 apart, for the length of an inch or so below the cone. Above, 

 these perulae pass gradually into loosely and spirally imbricated, 

 ovate-lanceolate, fleshy seed-scales with a cavity near the base of 

 the inner surface, from the upper part of which hangs the ovule. 

 A single coat invests the nucellus without any trace of arillus. 



The female flowers of Dacrydium Franhlinii are almost equally 



arillate 



arran 



and each scale bears an erect ovule invested by a tubular 

 arillus. 



In Taxm the cone consists of a number of spirally imbricated 

 scales arranged ou the f plan, and all of which, except one, are 



' 



> 



J ' 





. 



See Meehan in Proc. Acad. Nat. 8c. Philadelphia 



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