CORDAITEAE 541 



disposed bracts, most of which were sterile, while in 

 the axils of some of them the ovules (c) were borne. 

 Each ovule was situated at the end of a very short 

 lateral axis (d), which itself bore some bracteoles ; 

 a transverse section of a similar fructification showed 

 four ovules. 



The ovule, according to M. Renault, had two in- 

 teguments ; the outer of the two was thick and fleshy 

 (Fig. 194, B, c), while .the inner (e) formed a delicate 

 lining to the outer, from which it was perhaps not 

 really distinct. At a later stage the inner layer or 

 integument became hard and resistant, the outer remain- 

 ing fleshy. In the middle was the nucellus (g, ri) 

 (somewhat shrivelled in the specimen figured), the upper 

 part of which contained the pollen-chamber. A vascular 

 bundle entered the chalaza, and sent out branches both 

 into the integument and the nucellus. 



Further details have been worked out in a fructifica- 

 tion, specifically distinct, named Cordaianthus Grand'- 

 Euryi by M. Renault. Here the short lateral axis, 

 terminated by the ovule (shown detached in Fig. 195, 

 A), bore several bracts. The outer integument is 

 broken, and the inner has almost disappeared, leaving 

 the nucellus nearly isolated in the middle of the ovule. 

 In the upper part of the nucellus, we see the pollen- 

 chamber {c.p), surmounted by a very curious neck ) 

 shown, on a large scale, in Fig. 195, B. Both in the 

 pollen-chamber itself and in the canal leading to it, 

 pollen-grains (p) are contained, so that this ovule, as 

 M. Renault said, was " surprised at the very moment 

 of pollination." The wall of the canal has a charac- 

 teristic structure, for the cells in its lower part are 



