302 



MORPHOLOGY. 



flower. These young female cones, at about the time that the pollen is 

 escaping from the anthers, are long ovate, measuring about 6-iCivini long. 

 They stand upright as shown in fig. 351. 



615. Form of a " scale " of the female flower. — If we remove 

 one of the scales from the cone at this stage we can better study 

 it in detail It is flattened, and oval in 

 outline, with a stout "rib," if it may be so 

 called, running through the middle line and 

 terminating in a point. The scale is in 

 two parts as shown in fig. 354, which is a 

 ^\W/L view of the imder side. The small "out- 



growth '' which ajjpears as an appendage is 

 the cover scale, for while it is smaller in the 

 ■pine than the other portion, in some of 

 tlie relatives of the pine it is larger than its 

 mate, and being on the outside, covers it. 

 ( The inner scale is sometimes called the ovu- 

 liferous scale, because it bears the ovules.) 



616. Ovules, or macrosporangia, of the 

 pine. — At each of the lower angles of the 





W 



Fig. J 5-^- 

 Section of female cone 

 of white pine, showing 

 young ovules (macrospo- 

 rangia) at base of thu ovu- 

 liferoiis scales. 



Fig. 353- 

 Scale of wliite jiine with tlie 

 two ovules at Iiase u\ i_i\'ulit- 

 erous scale. 



Scale (A \\hity pine seen 



from th 

 co\'t;r scale 



ihowing the 



scale is a curious oval body with two curved, forceps-like pro- 

 cesses at the lower and smaller end. These are the macro- 

 sporangia, or, as they are called in the higher plants, the ovules. 

 These ovules, as we see, are in the positions of the seeds on the 



