88 BOTANY. 



ovary. Their woody tissue is marked by the presence of disks. They are 

 included in Lindlcy's class of Gymnogens, and Endlicher's Gymnospermous 

 ilivision of Acramphibrya. 



Order 40. Cycadace^, the Cycas Family. Flowers unisexual. Males 

 collected into cones, the scales bearing on their lower surface one-celled 

 anthers, which arc united often in sets of two, three, or four. Females 

 consisting of naked ovules, placed at the base of flat scales, or beneath 

 peltate ones, or seated on the margins of altered leaves. Seeds hard and 

 nut-like, sometimes with an external spongy coat ; embryo one or two, 

 suspended in a central cavit}»^ ; albumen fleshy or mealy ; cotyledons unequal ; 

 radicle superior, having a long cord-like prolongation by which the embryo 

 is suspended. Trees or shrubs, Avith cylindrical trunks, usually simple, 

 sometimes dichotomous, marked with the scars of the leaves, and in many 

 respects having the aspect of palms. The internal structure is more or less 

 distinctly that of dicotyledons. Pitted tissue and spiral vessels occur. The 

 leaves arc pinnate, and their vernation is circinate, thus resembling ferns. 

 The plants of this order are found in the temperate and Avarm regions of 

 America and Asia, as well as at the Cape of Good Hope. There are six 

 genera, according to Lindley, and forty-five species. Examples : Cycas, 

 Zamia, Encephalartos, Macrozamia, Dion. 



Some species of this order furnish an impure sago from the stem ; the 

 fruit of others is eaten, roasted like chestnuts. The family is interesting, 

 from having fossil representatives. Cycas circinalis (/>/. 56,^^. 4) ; Zamia 

 olliptica {ßg. 8). 



Order 41. Conifer.e, the Pine Family. It includes the orders Pinacese, 

 Taxaceoe, and Gnetacene of Lindley. Flowers unisexual. Male flowers 

 monandrous or monadelphous ; stamens collected in a deciduous amentum, 

 about a common rachis ; anthers one-, tAvo-, or many-lobed, with longitudinal 

 dehiscence, often terminated by a scaly crest. Female flowers in cones, some- 

 times solitary ; ovary none, its place being supplied by the flat scales of the 

 cones, arising from the axil of membranous bracts ; ovules naked, usually in 

 pairs on the face of the scales, inverted or erect ; style ; stigma 0. Fruit a 

 cone, or a solitary naked seed. Seed with a hard crustaceous integument, 

 sometimes winged, embryo in the midst of fleshy oily albumen ; sometimes 

 more than one embryo ; cotyledons two, or many and verticillate ; radicle next 

 the apex of the seed, organically connected Avith the albumen. Trees or 

 shrubs, with branched, usually resinous trunks, the Avood marked Avith circular 

 disks, the leaves usually narroAv, rigid or acerose, entire, sometimes fascicled, 

 and Avith a scaly sheath at their base. They are found in various parts of the 

 world, both in cold and hot regions. They abound in the temperate regions of 

 Europe and America, and many occur in Australia. Four genera of Conifei-se, 

 Araucaria, Phyllocladus, Microcachrys, and Arthrotaxis, are peculiar to 

 the southern hemisphere. The folloAving attain their maximum to the south of 

 the tropics : Callitris, Podocarpus, and Dacrydium. Damrnara has one species 

 in each hemisphere. 



Sub-order 1. Gnetacece. the Joint-fir Tribe ; male flowers with a perianth ; 

 anthers uni-, or quadrilocular, opening by a short cleft ; ovules Avith a 

 88 



