536 STUDIES IN FOSSIL BOTANY 



was applied to them, and is still used, as a matter of 

 convenience. 



A. The Male Flower 



The specimen shown in longitudinal section in Fig. 

 193, and known as Cordaianthus Penjoni, Renault, is a 

 single male catkin, 1 corresponding to one of those which 

 are represented in their external aspect in Fig. 188, 

 borne laterally on the peduncles. The catkin (about a 

 centimetre in length) consists of a rather thick axis, 

 bearing spirally arranged bracts, between which the 

 stamens (using the word provisionally) are inserted (Fig. 

 193, A). The stamens are either isolated, each in the 

 axil of a bract, or are grouped, two or three together, 

 around the apex of the catkin. Each stamen consists 

 of a filament, surmounted by three, four, or more 2 long, 

 vertical pollen-sacs. The filament is traversed by a 

 vascular bundle, which sends a branch to the base 

 of each pollen-sac (Fig. 193, B, g). Some of the sacs 

 in M. Renault's specimens had already undergone 

 dehiscence, by a longitudinal opening (Fig. 193, B, e) ; 

 others are preserved intact, and are still filled with the 

 pollen-grains {/). The wall of each pollen-sac consists 

 of a single layer of cells (Fig. 1 93, B). In other species 

 (e.g. C. Saportanus) the stamens are limited to the apical 

 region of the catkin, and are fewer in number, with 

 shorter filaments. 



The morphology of these male catkins of Cordaites 



1 The word catkin is used, rather than cone, to avoid any assumption 

 of homology with the male cone of the Coniferae. 



2 M. Renault gives the number as three or four, but, as pointed out 

 by Count Solms-Laubach, the transverse section shows five or six sacs to 

 each stamen. 



