CHAPTER XXVII. 

 THE REPRODUCTION OF GYMNOSPERMS. 



MATERIALS USED. 



Male flowers of Finns (e.g., the Scotch Fir, P. sylvestris). Best in alcohol. 



May or June. Also fresh. 

 Young female cones of the Scotch Fir (or other Pinus). Fresh, or in 



alcohol. End of May. 

 First year cones of the Red Fir (Picea vulgar is, Lk.). Weekly from end 



of May to end of June. Fresh, or best in alcohol. 

 Seeds of the same. September or October. 

 Alcohol material, whenever possible, is preferable to fresh, as the resin will 



be dissolved out. It should lie for at least twenty-four hours before use 



in alcohol-glycerine. 



REAGENTS USED. 



Potash Iodine Carbolic acid. 



PHANEROGAMIC plants fall into the two great divisions of naked 

 seeded, or Gymnosperms, and enclosed seeded, or Angio- 

 sperms. These divisions differ greatly in the structure of the 

 flower and the processes of fertilisation and embryology, and 

 we will first study them in the Gymnosperms. 



Male Flower of Pinus sylvestris. We will make ourselves 

 acquainted in the first instance with the structure of the male 

 flower of the Scotch Fir (Pinus sylvestris). This plant flowers in 

 May or June, according to the district ; but it can be studied very 

 well in alcohol material, which, as it is too brittle, should be laid 

 for at least one day prior to examination in a mixture of equal 

 parts of alcohol and glycerine. Material thus prepared can be 

 cut much better than if fresh. We first determine that the male 

 flowers (in the form of tiny cones) stand in large numbers on the 

 lower parts of a shoot of the same year. They are arranged 

 according to a ^ phyllotaxy, and correspond in their arrange- 

 ment exactly to the "short shoots," each bearing two needle 



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