CORDAITEAE. 115 



Four species of female Cordaianthus are described by Renault, Cor- 

 daianthus Williamsoni, C. Grand' Euryi, C. Lacattii, and C. Zeilleri. 

 But we must combine their characters to form a general idea of the 

 group, because we have only longitudinal sections of the first three species 

 and only a transverse section of the last (Fig. 9, H). The figure of the 

 fourth species l shows us a shoot exactly resembling the male shoot, and 

 surrounded by crowded spirally disposed leaves ; four flowers in the axils 

 of leaves are cut through in the upper portion of the shoot, and the apex 

 is prolonged beyond the flowers and bears a tuft of stunted leaves deformed 

 through pressure. The longitudinal sections (Fig. 9, A) 2 are all made 

 obliquely to the axis, and therefore the longitudinal sections which they 

 afford of the axillary flowers are sometimes more, sometimes less, exact 

 in their direction. In Cordaianthus Williamsoni (Fig. 9, A) the apical tuft 

 of leaves above these flowers is shown in the surface view, and the leaves 

 have the habit of those of Cordaites. Renault states 3 that the female 

 flowers of all the Cordaitae which he has examined give off small secondary 

 shoots, which arise in the axil of the leaf and are provided with a pair of 

 bracteoles. The number of the leaves in the tuft is said to vary. This 

 appears in the figures only in the case of Cordaianthus Williamsoni, where 

 the axillary shoot lies in the exactly median plane of section, and as the 

 short leaf exposed by it is in front (Fig. 9, A), one or two lateral leaves 

 must have preceded it. As the axis of the inflorescence-bud is remarkable 

 for its unusual thickness, the axis of the flower-bearing axillary buds is also 

 proportionally thick. The flower, which is evidently dead and on the point 

 of falling off, is attached to the axis by a broad base, and begins with 

 a stout envelope like an integument, which contracts into a narrow canal 

 below and becomes wider and funnel-shaped above. The floral axis enclosed 

 in the envelope rises in form of a thin stalk, and on the top of the stalk is 

 the shrivelled nucellus surrounded by a broader integument, which is firmly 

 attached to the inside of the outer envelope. The nucellus, which has 

 a peculiarly shaped conical termination, is shrivelled and stunted ; in C. 

 Lacattii 4 , in which it has a similar form but is better preserved, it fills 

 the whole of the space enclosed by the integument, and this was probably 

 the case in the other form also. In the transverse section of the in- 

 florescence of C. Zeilleri 5 , only the thick outer envelope of the flower 

 has been preserved. The details of the structure of the nucellus have been 

 studied by Renault from his preparation of C. Grand' Euryi (Fig. 9, C) 6 . 

 The bud contained two axillary flowers, one of which must have been 

 destroyed in making the section. The prolongation of the axis described 

 above between the outer and inner envelopes is not shown. The nucellus 



1 Renault (1), t. 17, f. 13. 2 Renault (1), t. 17, ff. 11, 14, 16. 3 Renault (1), p. 312. 



Renault (1), t. 17, f. 16. 5 Renault (1), t. 17, f. 13. 6 Renault (1), t. 17, f. 14. 



