474 



BENNBTTITALES 



[CH. 



Cycadocephalus Sewardi Nathorst. 



The type-specimen consists of an oval cluster of 16 — 18 linear 

 microsporophylls, 9 cm. long, springing from a small circular 

 disc formed of their concrescent and narrow bases. The 

 whole flower (fig. 574) exclusive of the peduncle is 10 cm. long 

 and 7 cm. broad. The portion of the comparatively slender 

 peduncle that is preserved shows no trace of leaf-scars. In the 



Fig. 574. Cycadocephalus Sewardi. A, surface-view; a, appendages. B, the 

 same specimen, after the removal of some of the microsporophylls, showing 

 the appendages. C, section of a miorosporophyll showing the attachment 

 of appendages. D, section of an appendage. (After Nathorst. A, B, J 

 nat. size.) 



middle of each linear miorosporophyll is a keel-like midrib and 

 on either side of this is a series of linear appendages (fig. 574) 

 2 — 3 cm. long lying in a radial direction towards the centre of 

 the flower. These appendages were originally thought to be 

 seeds (fig. 574, a), but it was suggested by Wieland that they 

 might be synangia, the circle of leaves being the male portion of 

 a bisexual flower of the Cycadeoidea type. Nathorst's more 



