262 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Therefore it is not unlikely that in this peculiar structure we 

 see the first real " flower," though devoid as yet of anything of 

 the nature of a coloured perianth. It must not be supposed, 

 however, that our " flowering plants " have been derived 

 necessarily from Cycadeoideae producing " flowers " such as I 

 have just described. It is quite likely that the Angiosperms 

 sprang from a stock lower down, nearer the Seed-fern stem, 

 and developed along lines parallel and analogous to those of 

 the Cycadeoideae, forming reproductive structures more truly 

 approaching and resembling the Angiospermous " flower " than 

 do those of the Cycadeoideae, which are, it must be admitted (a 

 glance at the male and female sporophylls is enough to show 

 this) still very remote from the " flower" of the higher plants. 



In any case, enough has been said to show (with a large 

 probability of truth) how, returning to the point from which we 

 set out, a " flower " is the result of the extreme modification of a 

 leafy branch or of a portion of the main axis, the axial part of 

 which has been excessively shortened and contracted, and the 

 perianth-leaves, stamens, and carpels reduced and altered from 

 the condition of large, Fern-like foliage-leaves. Thus, in the 

 long run, it is the Ferns that we have to thank for our Flowers. 



