









300 . BE. M. T. MASTERS ON THE MORPHOLOGY, 



sterile. The macrosporange or ovule is erect and borne in the 

 axil of a bract placed so close to the apex of a shoot as to appear 

 terminal, particularly as the apex of the shoot is arrested in its 

 development. Eventually the ovule becomes invested by a 

 tubular sheath which grows from below upwards and develops 

 into a fleshy aril, in whose cup all but the apex of the ripe seed is 

 concealed. 



Hooker * considers this aril to be the outer coat or primine ot 

 the ovule, an opinion which the internal anatomy hardly suffices 

 to confirm. The mode of development of the ovule, or, as JJaillon 

 considers it, the ovary, of Taxus, as well as of Phyllocladus and 

 Torreya, has been studied by that botanist t. 



The female flowers of Torreya consist of an ovule the testa of 

 which becomes fleshy, and at the base of which is sometimes to 

 be seen a short imperfectly developed aril, though in the ripe 

 seed it is not to be seen. 



In Ginkgo the flower consists of an elongated stalk w r hich bears 

 on either side just beneath the apex a straight ovule or macro- 

 sporangium. The outer covering or test is surrounded by an 

 imperfectly developed aril which remains dry, while the test itselt 

 becomes fleshy. According to Van Tieghem the vascular system 

 of the peduncle of this plant has its xylem directed outwards and 

 downwards %. 



The resemblance of the flowers of the two last-named genera to 

 those of Cycas is noteworthy. 



In Cephalotaxus the female flowers are clustered in bracteate 

 heads at the ends of axillary pedicels. The bracts are arranged 

 in decussate pairs, each bract subtending two flowers. The ovule 

 consists of an erect nucellus the coat of which, as well as the base 

 of the bract, becomes fleshy in course of development. Usually 

 only one of the two ovules in the axil of each bract develops. 

 By Bentham this genus is included among the Taxodieae, but its 

 ultimately succulent bract and aril seem to indicate a nearer re- 

 lationship to the Taxeae. An approximation to Cycas is also 

 evident ; but this is even more marked in the following genus. 



Phyllocladus. — In this genus the female flowers are borne either 



* J. D. Hooker in Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xxii. (1859), p. 138. 



t Baillon, Recherches Organogeniques sur la fleur fenielle des Coniferes, p. 4 





<1860). 



% Van Tieghem, Anat Comp. de la fleur femelle &c des Coniferea, &c., &c- 

 pL XT. figs. 58-62 ; Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 5, t. x. (1869). 











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