272 



THE FLOWER. 



is inverted on a more or less lengthened and stout support, which 

 is conceived to represent the carpel. (Fig. 560, 561.) 



509. In the true Coniferae, to which Pines, Cypresses, and all 

 such cone-fruiting trees belong, the ovules are borne on or in 

 the axils of scales which are imbricated on a simple axis, in a 

 spicate or capitate manner ; and the male flowers, each a single 

 stamen, are also similarly spicate or capitate. Both are com- 

 monly termed aments or catkins ; and the female 

 ones properly so, according to the present view ; 

 but the only scales of the male catkins are parts 

 of the anther, being a dilated tip of the connective 

 in Pines, and a scale bearing anther-cells or pollen- 



562 sacs on its back in Cypress. 



510. In the Pine tribe the flowering female catkin consists of 

 bracts, spirally imbricated on the cauline axis : in the axil of 



each bract or sterile scale is developed a scale 

 which bears two ovules, and is therefore regarded 

 as of carpellary nature. These ovules are pro- 

 duced on the lower part of the upper face of this 

 carpellary scale, and are wholly adherent to it 

 quite to the orifice, which is directed downward. 

 (Fig. 562, 563.) The ovuliferous scale in 

 becoming fructiferous usually much and soon out- 

 grows the bract, which is concealed in the Pine- 

 cone (or sometimes obliterated) ; but it remains 

 conspicuous in sundry Fir-cones. After fertil- 

 ization, the scales, successively covering each 

 other in close imbrication, protect the growing 

 seeds as effectually as would a closed ovary. 

 Sooner or later after ripening the scales diverge, and the seeds 

 peel off the face of the scale with a wing attached, and fall or 

 are dispersed by the wind. 1 



1 Among those who admit as well as those who reject gymnosperrc^ , 

 there has been much controversy over the morphology of the parts. With 

 the former, the discussion turns on the character of the ovuliferous scale. 

 As to this, the hypothesis originally proposed by Mohl, and adopted by 

 Braun, is now said to be satisfactorily demonstrated by Stenzel, in Nov. Act. 

 Nat. Cur. xxxviii. 1876. See note by Engelmann in Amer. Jour. Sci. Dec. 

 1876, and also the preface to the second part of Eichler's Bliithendiagramme, 



FIG. 562. View of the upper face of a carpellary scale of a Larch, showing the pair 

 of adnate ovules. 



FIG. 563. Similar view of a carpellary scale of a Larch, and of a bract behind it. 

 564. Ground plan of the same in diagram, reversed; the upper figure denoting the axis 

 of the cone, the lower the bract, the middle one the carpellary scale and the two ovule* 

 borne on its face. After Eichler. 



