FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 3 
crospores, which are the active agents in fertilization. The female 
sporophyll hears macrosporanges containing macrospores. The latter, 
when fertilized, develop embryos, which become ultimately new 
individuais. Among the flowering plants these various organs have 
received special designations somewhat more familiar in general usage. 
The male sporophyll is known as a stamen, the microsporange as an 
anther-sac, one or more of which constitute an anther. The female 
Civvenriten gay 10.6 F 
By 
Fic. 1.—Base of a Californian Sequoia or ‘‘big tree,’’ which represents a vanishing 
type of gymnospermous vegetation. (After Pinchot, Primer of Forestry, Bull. 24. 
Div. of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agric.). g % 
sporophyll consists in the majority of flowering plants of a specially 
modified leaf called a carpel, which serves as a pouch to contain the 
macrosporanges or ovules. The carpels collectively form a structure 
known as an ovary, which is said to be monocarpellary or polycar- 
pellary according to the number of divisions it contains. Each ovule 
includes a single macrospore or embryo-sac, and the fertilized ovule 
becomes a seed, the ripened ovary and its contents a fruit. A flower, 
on the other hand, or rather the conspicuous portion thereof (calyx and 
corolla) is merely a group of modified leaves serving as a protection to 
the enclosed stamens and ovary, which are vital organs. The showy 
