SAXE-GOTH^A CONSPIGUA. 



abortive membrane, enveloping the base only of the seed, instead of a well-defined 

 cup. In a memorandum in my possession, by Sir William Hooker, I find this 

 distinguished botanist comparing Saxe-Gotliaea to a Podocarp with the flowers in 

 a cone — a view which he was probably led to take by the condition of the ovule, 

 and which may be regarded as the most philosophical mode of understanding the 

 nature of this singular genus, to which Nageia may be said to be a slight approach, 

 and which is not distinguishable, by habit, from a Podocarp. 



In its systematic relations, Saxe-Gothtea possesses great interest, forming as it 

 does a direct transition from the one-flowered Taxads to the true imbricated Coni- 

 fers, without, however, breaking down the boundary between those orders, as I 

 understand them, but rather confirming the propriety of limiting the Coniferous 

 order to those genera which really bear cones instead of single naked seeds. In 

 the language of some naturalists, Saxe-Gothaea would be called an osculant 

 genus between Taxads and Conifers. 



The leaves of this plant have altogether the size and general appearance of the 

 English Yew, Taxns baccata ; but they are glaucous underneath, except upon the 

 midrib and two narrow stripes within the edges, which are pale green. The male 

 flowers consist of spikes appearing at the ends of the branches, in a raceme more 

 or less elongated. These spikes (Fig. B, 1) grow from within a few concave 

 acute scales, which form a kind of involucre at the base. Each male is a solitary 

 membranous anther, with a lanceolate, acuminate, reflexed appendage, and a pair 

 of parallel cells opening longitudinally. The female flowers form a small, round- 

 ish, pedunculated, terminal, scaly, imbricated cone (Fig. B, 3). The scales are 

 fleshy, firm, lanceolate, and contracted at their base, where they unite in a solid 

 centre. All appear to be fertile, and to bear in a niche in the middle, where the 

 contraction is, a single inverted ovule (Fig. B, 4). The ovule is globular, with 

 two integuments beyond the nucleus ; the outer integument is loose and thin, and 

 wraps round the ovule in such a way that its two edges cannot meet on the under 

 side of the ovule ; the second integument is firm and fleshy ; the nucleus is flask- 

 shaped, and protrudes a fungous circular expansion through the foramen. The 

 fruit (Fig. B, 5) is formed, by the consolidation of the free scales of the cone, 

 into a solid, fleshy mass of a depressed form, and very irregular surface, owing to 

 many of the scales being abortive, and crushed by those whose seeds are able to 

 swell ; while the ends of the whole retain their original form somewhat, are free, 

 rather spiny, and constitute so many tough, sharp tubercles. The seed (Fig. B, 

 6) is a pale brown, shining, ovate, brittle nut, with two very slight, elevated lines, 

 and a large, irregular hilum ; at the base, it is invested with a short, thin, ragged 

 membrane, which is the outer integument in its final condition. The nucleus lies 

 half free in the interior, the fungous apex having shrivelled up and disappeared. 



Explanation of the Cuts. — A, a branch with male and female flowers, natural 

 size ; B, various details of the fructification, more or less magnified ; 1, a spike of 

 male flowers ; 2, a male or anther apart ; 3, a twig and young cone ; 4, a scale 

 seen from the inside with the inverted ovule, showing the fungous foramen pro- 

 truding beyond the primine (outer integument) ; 5, a ripe fruit ; 6, a seed, show- 

 ing the two slight elevations upon the surface, and the remains of the ragged 

 primine at the base. — Dr. Lindley, in Horticultural Society Journal. 



[Mr. Sargent considers the Saxe-Goth^a hardy in the climate of the North 

 Biver. It belongs to the yew-leaved form of evergreens. — Ed.] 



