274 



THE FLOWER. 



several at or on the base of each cone-scale, always with orifice 

 upward. Arbor- Vitae (Fig. 566, 567) has a single pair of ovules 

 to the scale ; Junipers, sometimes only one ; true Cypresses (as 

 in Fig. 568), often a dozen or more. At flowering time, the cone- 

 scales mostly appear as if simple ; but in most genera they soon 

 thicken greatly within ; and they are usually understood to be 

 composed of bract and carpel-scale combined, the latter of the 

 same constitution as that of PineS and Spruces, but perfectly 

 consolidated and confluent with the bract-scale. 1 



513. In Cycadaceae, the type of the flower of Angiosperms is 

 almost or quite lost ; yet the organs may be homologized with 

 those of Coniferae, which these plants are wholly unlike in habit. 



1 This internal and ovuliferous scale may seem to be wholly hypotheti- 

 cal, and assumed to homologize the cupressineous with the abietineous 

 cone. Without it, we should have to consider that, while in*5\.bietineae the 

 ovules belong to leaves of a secondary axis, in Cupressineae they are borne 

 on those of a primary axis, or else are axillary productions without carpels. 

 But in the Araucaria tribe the internal scale is obvious ; and there are suffi- 



FIG. 569-575. Zamia, chiefly Z. media, after Richard. 569. A male plant. 570 

 Lower part of a male catkin. 571. A stamen removed, showing numerous small pollen- 

 sacs under the peltate top. 572. A female catkin, with a quarter section cut away. 

 573. A female flower or carpel, with two enlarging ovules or young seeds. 574. Ripe 

 seed, with the thick fleshy coat cut away at apex. 575. Longitudinal section of ripe 

 seed, more enlarged. 



