CYCADOPHYTA 599 



to the internal organs of the fructification — the stamens, 

 the seed -pedicels, and the interseminal scales — that 

 difficulties begin. 



There appears to be no doubt as to the morpho- 

 logical nature of the stamens, which are clearly sporo- 

 phylls of a highly complex and leaf-like character, 

 borne directly on the axis of the fructification. So far, 

 then, as the andrcecium is concerned, the Bennettitean 

 strobilus is admittedly a flower. The organs of the 

 gynsecium, however, have received various interpreta- 

 tions, which may be grouped under two heads. Either 

 all the organs (seed-pedicels and interseminal scales) are 

 of a foliar nature, in which case the fructification 

 throughout is comparable to a flower, or the seed- 

 pedicels are axial structures, 1 and this part of the fructifi- 

 cation is an " inflorescence." The question is important 

 on account of the comparison with the Angiosperms, on 

 which much stress has been laid by recent writers. 

 We will first consider the second view, of which Professor 

 Lignier is the chief advocate. On his interpretation 

 the interseminal scales are modified leaves, homologous 

 with the bracts, and ultimately with the foliage leaves, 

 while each seed -pedicel is a sporophyll borne on a 

 unifoliar bud, which is probably axillary to an inter- 

 seminal scale. Professor Lignier points out the analogy 

 which, on his view, exists between the strobilus (or 

 rather the female part of it) and the vegetative 

 stem, in which also only a minority of the leaves 

 have buds (usually fructifications) in their axis. The 

 unifoliar bud, which would thus represent a female flower, 



- 1 The third view mentioned as possible by Count Solms-Laubach, that 

 the interseminal scales are also axial, does not seem to be upheld. 



