270 



PHYLLODY 



this specimen, however, there was no evidence to show 

 whether the shoot in question was a perverted develop- 

 ment of the nucleus, or whether it was wholly inde- 

 pendent of the ovule. 



Fig. 148. Floret of OaiUa/rdia, showing leafy shoot occupyiBg the 

 place of the oviile. 



From this occasional elongation of the nucleus, as 

 well as from the foliar nature of the ovular coats. 

 Prof. Alex. Braun arrives at the conclusion that the 

 ovule is to be looked on as a bud, the ovular coatings, 

 so often variable in number, representing the scales of 

 the bud, the nucleus corresponding to the end of the 

 axis or growing point. Griffith had previously expressed 

 the same opinion from his observations on malformed 

 ovules of Sinapis and Lonicera, while Caspary's conclu- 

 sions from the foliaceous ovules of Trifolium repens are 

 somewhat similar. The latter observer considers that 

 the funiculus, with the integuments, is the equivalent 

 of a leaflet, the petiolule or midrib of which answers to 

 the funiculus, and its hollow expansion to the integu- 

 ment. The nucleus itself is considered to be a new 

 formation analogous to a shoot. 



