COXIFERALES 



73 



a similar monstrosity has been reported by Shaw 34 in con- 

 nection with the cones of Sequoia. For some, such illus- 

 trations settle the sporophyll character of the bract, which 

 to them therefore becomes the carpel in the ovuliferous cone 

 (Figs. 59, 60). . p . 



In 1860 also Caspary 7 confirmed Braun' s conclusion, citing 

 abnormal specimens in which branches occurred in the axils of 

 the brac.ts, and ' bearing 

 the two- halves of' the 

 ovuliferous scaje as lat- 

 eral appendages. 



In 1864 Parlatore n 

 recorded a monstrous 

 cone of Finns Pinaster 

 (P. Lemoniana) in which 

 an ordinary spur shoot 

 with its two needle leaves 

 sprang from the axil of 

 every alternate bract, re- 

 placing an ovuliferous 

 scale. His conclusions' 

 naturally accorded with 

 those of Braun. 



In the same year 

 (1864) Oersted 10 * re- 

 corded some remarkable 

 cones, in which the low- 

 est bracts had the form 

 of foliage leaves; in the 

 axils of the next higher 

 ones were several scales 



as on a suppressed axis, the two outermost being largest and 

 opposite ; higher up the bracts became gradually smaller and the 

 axillary scales less numerous, but the two outermost scales grad- 

 ually increased in size and became connate by their posterior 

 margins, while rudimentary ovules appeared at their base; in 

 the uppermost part of the cone the bract was reduced to its ordi- 

 nary size, and the ovuliferous scales had fused into a single large 

 broad structure dentate or bifid at the apex. His conclusion 

 in general was that of Braun, but in his detailed application he 



FIG. 58. Podocarpus spp. : staminate and ovulate 

 branches from P. Totara ; a, microsporophyll ; 

 i, ovulate structures ; c, longitudinal section of 

 same ; d, ovulate structures from P. macrophyl- 

 la ; , longitudinal section' of same. Branches 

 and a-c after HOOKER ; whole plate from ENG- 

 LER and PRANTL'S Nat. Pflanzenfam. 



