86 
“We also inclose certificate of condition issued by the Au- 
stralian commonwealth officer of the Department of Agriculture, 
which we think is required by the United States customs 
authorities. 
“We trust the goods will be safely received despite the long 
transit and many handlings, and shall be glad to hear from you 
in due course to this effect.” 
The plants arrived at the Garden on February 16, IQI5, six 
and one half months after shipment, and about seven months 
after collection. To our surprise and satisfaction, most of them 
appeared to be in good condition. The Bowenia has a stem best 
described as resembling an abnormally large turnip, while the 
stems of the Cycas and Macrozamias are thick and succulent, that 
of the Macrozamia'“ spiralis” being semi-tuberous. All the plants 
were, of course, devoid of foliage, and these facts, combined with 
the very careful manner in which they were packed, contributed to 
keep the plants alive during their seven months of transit and 
drought. Some of the seeds of the Macrozamias had germinated, 
but the seedlings did not live. It is probable, however, from 
present indications, that one or more specimens of each sex of all 
the four species will survive. 
The cycads are closely related, botanically, to our cone-bearing 
trees, such as the spruce, pine, and hemlock, and probably are 
descended from the same common stock, which flourished untold 
years ago in the geological period known as the Mesozoic. 
Queensland is one of the greatest cycad centers in the world, the 
other being in the states of Oaxaca and Vera Cruz, Mexico. 
The appearance of the Cycas media, as it reached the Garden, 
is shown in figure 11. The roots, emerging from the swollen 
base of the trunk had been pruned, and the removal of the 
foliage leaves left exposed at the top the seed-bearing leaves 
which are characteristic of the genus Cycas. One of these 
leaves, known to the botanist as a megasporophyll, or carpel, is 
shown, reduced from natural size, in figure 12. The plum-like 
“fruits” are not fruits at all, but naked seeds, developed from 
ovules not inclosed in an ovary. 
The reader will recall that all the seeds with which we are 
