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270 PHYLLODY 
this specimen, however, there was no evidence to show 
whether the shoot in question was a perverted develop- 
ment of the nucleus, or whether it was wholly inde- 
pendent of the ovule. 

Fie. 148.—Floret of Gaillardia, showing leafy shoot occupying the 
place of the ovule. 
From this occasional elongation of the nucleus, as 
well as from the fohar nature of the ovular coats, 
Prof. Alex. Braun arrives at the conclusion that the 
ovule is to be looked on as a bud, the ovular coatings, 
so often variable in number, representing the scales of 
the bud, the nucleus corresponding to the end of the 
axis or growing point. Griffith had previously expressed 
the same opinion from his observations on malformed 
ovules of Simapis and Lonicera, while Caspary’s conclu- 
sions from the foliaceous ovules of Trifolium repens are 
somewhat similar. The latter observer considers that 
the funiculus, with the integuments, is the equivalent 
of aleaflet, the petiolule or midrib of which answers to 
the funiculus, and its hollow expansion to the integu- 
ment. The nucleus itself is considered to be a new 
formation analogous to a shoot. 
