the Male and Female Flowers of Conifers. 215 



the petaloid texture is very obvious : when the cone is mature, the 

 petal has been converted into a fihn or crust. In the pines the 

 petal takes the form of a small stiff bract, which in some is very 

 plain in the mature cone, in others less so, or more or less 

 squeezed or obliterated by the pressure of the surrounding 

 scales. 



Another evidence that this bract is the petal is the fact that, 

 as in other flowers, it appears first, and remains for a short 

 time before the seeds or their envelopes begin to show them- 

 selves. It is, no doubt, persistent both in the male and female 

 flowers; but we have plenty of other flowers with persistent 

 petals ; and although it does not fall off at the same stage as in 

 most other flowers, we can estimate the termination of its flower- 

 ing by the appearance of the parts coniiected with the fructifi- 

 cation inside of it. 



In other plants the seeds are developed within the petal or 

 petals, and their envelopes take their place in a determinate 

 order or series of concentric layers. That order, I think, is pre- 

 served in the Conifers ; and I shall first contrast the layers or 

 envelopes which encircle the seed in ordinary dicotyledonous 

 plants with what I consider the same parts in Conifers, and 

 then take each of the parts separately and endeavour to show 

 that they are what I suppose them to be. The envelopes, be- 

 ginning with the petal and looking inwards, then, are as fol- 

 lows : — 



In ordinary 

 dicotyledonous plants. In Conifers. 



1 . Outermost envelope or 1 p j. i -o i. 



its appendages. J 



2. Next envelope. Disk. Scale. 



3. First covering of fruit. Pericarp. Wing of seed. 



.c jjvi. Tkir r Cellular substance between 



4. Second ditto. Mesocarp. "^ o j c 



5. Third ditto. Endocarp. Testa. 



The remaining envelopes of the nucleus of the ovule in the 

 Conifers (primine, secundine, &c.) in no respect differ in appear- 

 ance or function from those of other seeds, and therefore need 

 not be specially noticed. 



An examination of the above parts shows nothing inconsistent 

 with the above distribution of function which I have assigned to 

 those of the Conifers. 



1. The Scale, 



As with the stamens growing on the inferior margin of the 

 male petal, the ovary takes its rise on the inferior margin of the 

 female petal. Physiologically, perhaps its ultimate origin is to 

 be referred further back ; but this is the point where it comes 



