SPERMATOPHYTA 



6i 



The stem in most forms was thick and short and closely 

 covered with an armor of persistent leaf-bases (Fig. iq). 

 Among these leaf-bases were wedged numerous small 



Fig. 19. — A fossil cycad, Cycadeoidea marylandica Fontaine (Xi), from the 

 Potomac formation (Comanchean) of Maryland. At the time of fossilization it 

 was about to blossom. Nearly thirty flower buds (/. b) show here between the old 

 leaf-bases. The wonderful preservation of some of the flower buds embedded in 

 these ancient fossilized trunks is seen in Figs 21, 22. 



branches, each terminating in a fructification. The stem 

 usually bore at top a crown of large cycas-like leaves 

 (Fig. 20). 

 As in general appearance, so likewise in the anatomy of the 



