CUPULIFEILE 535 



still distinctly pendulous, but is now oblong-obovoid, apiculate, and 

 the placenta remaining short, develops in length towards the apex 

 of the fruit as the latter grows ; the attachment with the small 

 aborted ovules is now distinctly below its middle. 



The embryo at this stage is suspended from the apex of the seed 

 and shows a distinct, short, turbinate radicle, '5 mm. long, with 

 fleshy, lenticular, diverging, subtransparent, exauriculate cotyledons 

 2 mm. long and 2-25 mm. wide. The endosperm occupying the 

 basal part of the seed is also subtransparent, soft and in a semi- 

 gelatinous condition. 



Pistil enclosed in an involucre or cupule, composed of imbricat- 

 ing bracts firmly cohering by their bases ; ovary of three carpels, 

 three-celled, with two ovules in each cell ; ovules pendulous, ana- 

 tropous, from the top of the cell with a prominent, projecting, 

 superior micropyle. 



Fruit an acorn or glans, ovoid or oblong, flattened at its junction 

 with the receptacle, and umbilicate at the apex with the remains of 

 the styles springing from the middle of the 

 hollow, smooth, glabrous, shining, pale 

 green, ultimately brown ; perianth adhering 

 to the ovary and with it forming the peri- 

 carp ; seed free within the pericarp. By 

 early rupturing of the septa the fruit be- 

 comes one-celled and one-seeded as the re- 

 maining five ovules are not fertilised, but 



, ,, , , , , , i f j.-\ FIG. 669. Ouercus pedun- 



become firmly pressed to the base of the culata. ' 



ovary cavity by the large growing seed. Diagram of acorn and 



i i .en- ii -i seed, nat. size : o, abor- 



beea large, ruling trie pericarp, ovoid- ted ovule (pendulous, 

 oblong, slightly oblique at the base and anatropous); a, axis 



J ^ elongated to show its 



blunt at the apex ; hilum basal ; raphe nature ; ck, chaiaza ; m, 



very short or none (longer in Q. Ilex, at 

 least in a younger state when the base of the seed is very oblique or 

 even produced to a point) ; chaiaza very conspicuous, giving off 

 strong, radiating, longitudinal, forking, branching and anastomosing 

 nerves which vary considerably ; radicle apical, short, and just 

 protruded from the cotyledons. 



Endosperm absent. 



Embryo straight, large, entirely occupying and conforming to 

 the whole interior of the seed, which again conforms to the fruit, 

 fleshy, pale yellow ; cotyledons broadly oblong or suboval, plano- 

 convex, with their flattened faces firmly applied to each other, 

 entire at the apex or slightly emarginate owing to a prominence of 



