68 THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS 



or stamens. Now, with one exception, all 

 living plants which bear seeds have flowers 

 or cones; i. e. there are always special branches 

 formed, on which the leaves concerned in re- 

 production are borne. The one exception is 

 the female plant of Cycas. Here no separate cone 



Fig. 6. Cycas revoluta; centre of female plant, showing 

 some leaves and the fosette of leaf-like carpels, bearing seeds. 

 Kew. 



or flower is formed; the carpels are leaf -like 

 organs borne directly on the main stem of the 

 plant, just as the ordinary leaves are (fig. 6). 

 When the flowering season comes, the carpels 

 grow out in a rosette, all round the stem, and 

 when their work is done they drop off, and are 

 succeeded by new green leaves, as before. Hence 



