82 THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS 



and bast surrounding a wide pith. The vascular 

 strands supplying the leaves took a more direct 

 course than in the recent family, the structure of 

 the leaves themselves was practically identical 

 with that of Cycadaceous leaves of the Zamia 

 type. So far, then, as the vegetative structure is 

 concerned, these plants were essentially Cycads; 

 when we come to the fructification, however, it 

 is scarcely an exaggeration to say that all resem- 

 blance ceases. 



In seven American species belonging to Bennet- 

 tites and the closely allied Cy codetta the organisa- 

 tion of the flowers has been investigated; they all 

 agree in the essential points, and this appears to 

 hold good for the European species also. We have 

 already seen that the fructifications were borne 

 laterally on the stem, wedged in between the 

 bases of the leaves. On a single specimen of 

 Bennettites dacotensis sixty-one fructifications were 

 found, all at nearly the same stage of development; 

 Dr. Wieland conjectures, from this and similar 

 observations, that the plants flowered once for all 

 and then died, like many Palms and Bamboos at 

 the present day. 



The species just mentioned, Bennettites daco- 

 tensis, may serve as a type. The whole flower is 

 here about twelve centimetres (nearly five inches) 

 long, and protrudes a little beyond the leaf -bases 

 by which it is surrounded (fig. 9). The lower 



