EVOLUTION OF SEED-PLANTS 129 



The family was evidently an extensive one, 

 and goes back to Devonian times. The stems, 

 the stumps of which have been found rooted, 

 as they grew, were lofty trunks, reaching a 

 height of 100 feet, ending in a crown of branches 

 bearing rather narrow leaves, sometimes a yard 

 long (see fig. 14). In general appearance the 

 trees most nearly resembled certain Conifers of 

 the Southern Hemisphere, related to the Kauri 

 Pine of New Zealand; some of those have leaves 

 six or seven inches long by two inches broad 

 the largest in living Conifers, though far inferior 

 to those of the ancient group. In structure the 

 stems of Cordaites likewise resembled this south- 

 ern family of Conifers, except that the pith 

 was much larger and chambered like that of 

 a Walnut-tree. On the other hand, the leaves 

 had almost exactly the same structure as the 

 leaflets of a Cycad such as Zamia, though on a 

 much greater scale. 



The reproductive organs, like the vegetative, 

 were in many respects much more advanced 

 than those of the Pteridosperms. The latter, 

 as we have seen, though complex enough in 

 their own way, resembled the Ferns in bearing 

 both seeds and pollen-sacs on fonds or parts 

 of the frond differing little from the ordinary 

 foliage; this was far from being the case with 

 the Cordaitese. Their fructifications were cones 



