Gtmrooi 1*8.] PIN \« I 



formed of the wall haped ovaries, I ne enlarged and Lai lei 



tin- bracts also, which are sometimes obUterated, and aometim 



•oales in the form of a lobed appends S I with a 



Embryo in the midsl of flesh] oUj albumen, with - or man] 



radicle next the apex of the seed, and hat ing an i • lion with I 



With the exception of I trchids, there is perhaps no Natural < >rder th< 

 remained so lone and universally misunderstood as that of • 

 from the anomalous nature of their organisation, and from the inv< 

 imt having been conducted « iili that attention to logical | n cision which i- 

 be indispensable. It i-. not expedient to enter upon an inquiry into t! 

 nists have successive!} entertained upon the Bubject. Those who at rm- 



ing themselves upon mat point «ill find all they can desire in the Appi nd 

 hang's 76 ■ Veto HofUmd, and in Richard's M emoin 



diet. It may, however, be useful t" adverl briefly to the principal theories which l. 

 met with advocates. These are, firstly, that the female flowi 



ovarj having a style in the form of an external Bcale, an opinion held by Jut - iUi. 



and Lambert : Beoondly, that they haves minute cohering perianth, and an ■ 

 additional envelope called the cupule : tliis view was taken by Schubert, Mirl 

 others ; thirdly, that they haveamonosepalous calj \ coheringmore or less with tb 

 contracted and often tubular at the apex, with a lobed, or glandular, or minut • 

 limb an erect ovary, a single pendulous ovule, no Btyle, and a minute 

 tliis explanation is that of Richard, published in lii> Memoir upon the subject u 

 It appears, however, from the observations of Brown, that the female i 

 is a naked ovule, the integuments of which have been mistaken for floral enveloi 

 the apex of whose nucleus has been considered s stigma. About the accuracy 

 view there is at tliis time no difference of opinion. Thi «• female organs, i i 

 ovules, originate from the larger scales of the cone towards th< ir base, and occupy 

 same relative place in Conifers and in Zamia, a genus oi Cycads. \ . ..- • 

 cannot be any doubt of the perfect analogy that exists between the sca!i a of thi i 

 Zamia and the fruit-bearing leaves ofCycas, the former differing from the latter only 

 in each being reduced to 2 ovules, and to an undh ided Btate ; bo there can be no doubt 

 of the equally exact analog] between the scales of Conifers and Zamia, and thei 

 the former would be called reduced leaves if the general character of the tribi 

 produce :i highly developed foliage ; but as 1 1 1 « - foliage of Conifers is in a much ra 

 contracted state than the Bcales of their cones, the latter must be undi 

 leaves of Conifers in a more developed state than usual. That the Bcales of thi • 

 really are metamorphosed leaves, is appan nt not onlj from this reasoning, but from thi 

 following facts. Thej occupy the Bame position with respect to the bracts as the leai 

 do to their membranous sheaths ; tlie_\ surround the a\i> of growth as leaves I . 

 usuall] terminate it ; but in Bome cases, as in the Larch, the axis somi tin 



be] I them, and leaves them collected round it in the middle. I" Iraucariathi 



absolutely the Bame structure as the ordinary leaves; and finally, the] - 

 assume the common appearance of leaves, as i-, represented in Richard's M 

 12., in the case of a monstrous Abies, The Bcales of the com - of Con 

 bearing Cycads are therefore t" these Orders, what car] liars leat 

 plants. Schleiden does not, however, admit the Bcales of the • 

 expanded carpellarj leaves. He regards them as no other than the 

 carpellary leaves ; they, he Bays, cannot be the latter, becaus 

 without example in the whole vegetable world, — Ann. Sc. \ .v i 

 ask tins ingenious anatomist what tli«' fruit of Salix i- but folium in ii I 



With regard to thi male flowers, it is obvious that in the Larch, tl I 

 nun, the Spruce, and the like, each anther is formed oi :i partiall] 

 analogous to the indurated carpellar] scale of the females : and thi i 

 consists of a number of monandrous naked male flowers, coll 



Some botanists, however, consider each male catkin as ■ n»»lc 



flower, which is impossible. Hut in Araucaria, these cat itii - ow u| j 

 ordinary flat scale In this genus, and such others withit 



tliers may be considered to consist of an uncertain numh r of 1 

 recede from the usual Btructureof the male organs of plat 

 which are normal, we have 2; in Juniperus, the like numl 

 in Agathis, 1 1 ; and in Araucaria, from 12 to 20. Br m 



remarkable, that in Cunninghamia the lobes of the anthi r »• 



insertion and direction, with tin* ovules. A' ' ' 

 noticed a very general tendency in son;. 

 embryos in a seed, {\tli Report ■ 

 remarks upon tlie origin oi the embryo in such pb 



