PlJVaS AND THEIR KIN 



307 



a tapering base (Fig. 320, a) . Beneath some 

 of these scales are clusters of stamens which are 

 wholly devoid of a perianth. 



372. The fruit -bearing 

 catkins persist, and be- 

 come cones (or strobiles) . 

 Above each of the per- 

 sistent cone- scales may be 

 found two inverted ovules 

 {a c, Fig. 321), wholly 

 destitute of ovary. These 

 ovules develop into winged 

 s.eeds. The cone -scale is 

 in the axil of a minute 

 scale -like body. 



373. The pines, then, 

 are radically unlike the 

 other plants which we have studied, because they 

 have no pericarps. The ovules are naked, and 

 the pollen is therefore applied directly to the 

 ovule. The flowers are also destitute of perianth. 



374. The cones of pines arise on the growth 

 of the season, but when they open and discharge 

 the seeds, they are upon two -year -old wood. That 

 is, the cones mature the second year. Is this 

 true of the spruces and larches? 



375. The cone does not necessarily open or dis- 

 charge its seeds when it reaches maturity. The 



Fig. 321. 



Details of young pistillate cone 

 of Austrian pine. 



