508 CONIFERS. 



Section B. GymnospermcE* 



1041. Monoclilamydeous or Achlamydeous plants, with an Exoge- 

 nous structure as regards their stems and organs of vegetation, but 

 differing from Exogens in having naked ovules, which are fertilized by 

 the direct application of the pollen to the foramen, without the inter- 

 vention of stigma, style, and ovary. Their woody tissue is marked by 

 the presence of disks (figs. 47, 48, 808). They are included in Lind- 

 ley's class of Gymnogens, and Endlicher's Gymnospermous division of 

 Acramphibrya. 



1042. Order 179. Coniferte, the Cone-bearing Family. (Achlamyd. 

 Diclin.) It includes the orders Pinaceae, Taxacese, and Gnetacese of 

 Lindley. Flowers unisexual. Male flowers monandrous or monadel- 

 phous : Stamens collected in a deciduous amentum, about a common 

 rachis (fig. 728); anthers 1-2 or many-lobed, with longitudinal dehis- 

 cence, often terminated by a scaly crest (fig. 729). Female flowers 

 in cones (fig. 730), sometimes solitary : Ovary none, its place being 

 supplied by the flat scales of the cones, arising from the axil of 

 membranous bracts (fig. 731); ovules naked, usually in pairs on the 

 face of the scales (figs. 731, 732 o o), inverted or erect; style 0; 

 stigma 0. Fruit a cone (figs. 201, 476, 477), or a solitary naked 



seed (fig. 442). Seed with a hard crustaceous integument, sometimes 

 winged (fig. 733) ; embryo in the midst of fleshy oily albumen (fig. 

 734) ; sometimes more than one embryo ; cotyledons 2, or many and 



* Tupvos, naked, and ir*i$/u.cc, seed. 



Figs. 728-734. Organs of fructification of Pinus sylvestris, Scotch Fir, to illustrate the natural 

 order Conifera. 



Fig. 728. Collection of male catkins, <-, clustered round a common axis. /, Leaves. 6, Ter- 

 minal buds, with young leaves and scaly sheaths. 



Fig. 729. Male flower, or the two-lobed anther, separated. 



Fig. 730. Three collections of female flowers, or young cones, c, at the extremity of a branch. 



Fig. 731. A scale detached from one of these young cones, and seen on the exterior. 6, Bract. 

 f, Scale, o o, Summit of the naked ovules. 



