GTMNOSPEEMIA. 357 



in many important parts of their organization, between the Angiospermous 

 Phanerogams and the higher Cryptogams; and this applies in some 

 degree to their histological as well as to their morphological construction. 

 The Cycadaceee have the habit of Palms, or of arborescent Ferns ; their 

 fertile foliar organs, or stamens and carpels, resemble in Cycas the fertile 

 leaves of Ferns ; in Zamia, as in Pinacese, the carpels approach nearer to 

 the condition of the carpels of Angiosperms, but are flat or open. 



The structure of the female flower has been a subject of much controversy 

 among botanists ; the account above given is that which is on the whole 

 the most generally adopted, though it should be stated that many botanists 

 regard the outer investment of the ovule as an ovary (Strasburger, 

 Baillon, Sperk), in which latter case the scale supporting it would have 

 more of the nature of a branch than of a foliar organ. The reasons for 

 considering the reproductive bodies as naked ovules and not ovaries are 

 thus summed up by Alph. de Candolle : i. The mode of development is 

 centrifugal as in ovules, not centripetal as in [most] ovaries ; ii. The seeds of 

 some Conifers (Podocarpus) are anatropal, a position unknown in ovaries ; 

 iii. The insertion is that of an ovule and not of an ovary. To this it may 

 be added that the structure and arrangement of the tissues in the scale 

 supporting the ovules are more akin to those of a leaf than to those of a 

 branch. Anatomical investigation shows that while in Cycads the ovules 

 are borne on the sides of a scale originating directly from the axis, in 

 Conifers the ovuligerous scale is the production of an abortive secondary 

 branch originating in the axil of a primary scale. 



The arguments in favour of the Augiospermous character of Conifers and 

 their allies are thus summed up by Strasburger : i. The female flowers of 

 Coniferce and Gnetacece are metamorphosed buds. ii. Each flower consists 

 of an ovary, destitute of any distinct perianth, iii. The single envelope 

 of the flower of Coniferce is homologous with the outermost of the three 

 surrounding the ovule in Gnetacece, which latter, being homologous with 

 the carpels of Angiosperms generally, must itself be considered as an ovary, 

 iv. This ovary contains a single ovule, which is naked (consisting of the 

 nucleus only) in all Coniferce, whilst in Gnetacece it is protected by two 

 coats, v. The integuments in Gnetacece are homologous with the ovular 

 integuments in the higher Phanerogams, vi. These envelopes must be 

 looked upon as foliar productions, both in Coniferce and Gnetacece. vii. 

 The nucleus of the ovule is formed by the extremity of the floral axis, 

 viii. In both Coniferce and Gnetacece the ovary is formed by two carpellary 

 leaves, which are primitively distinct, but by the subsequent growth of 

 their basal portion they form a tubular structure below ; in some rare 

 cases, however, they seein from the first to be completely united, ix. The 

 ovular coats of the Gnetacece are, without exception, equally developed 

 all round the ovules ; each of them corresponds to a single leaf. x. Any 

 foliar formation, such as makes its appearance in many Coniferce between 

 preexisting leaves (as, for instance, the fructiferous scale in Abietinece or 

 the cupule in Taxacece), is a disk or outgrowth of the axis ; there are 

 no such organs in Gnetacece. Professor Strasburger considers the term 

 Gynmosperms to be inappropriate ; but as Taxads, Cycads, Conifers, and 



Gnetads differ from other Phanerogams in having " corpuscles " instead 

 of germinal vesicles, the terms Archisperms and Metasperms as substitutes 



