GINKGOACEAE 613 



ing closely with those of the recent species, have been 

 found, associated with the Ginkgo leaves, and similar 

 specimens have been described from the Inferior Oolite 

 of Yorkshire. 1 Male flowers, found in Germany at a 

 lower horizon, on the boundary of the Trias and Lias, 

 were associated with Baiera leaves, and differed from 

 the flowers of Ginkgo in the greater number of pollen- 

 sacs borne on each stamen. This point is of interest, 

 in view of the comparison with the male flower of 

 Cordaiteae suggested above (Chapter XII. p. 538). 

 Female flowers and seeds have also been discovered, 

 but as the seeds are usually detached, the evidence is 

 not quite so satisfactory on this side. Prof. Seward's 

 views as to the Ginkgoaceous affinities of Beania have 

 already been mentioned (p. 595). In this case, how- 

 ever, the reasons for connecting the flower with Cyca- 

 daceae seem about equally strong. 



On the whole, the sum of the fossil evidence is of 

 sufficient weight to prove the great antiquity of the 

 Gymnospermous family now represented by the Maiden- 

 hair tree, which appears to be best regarded as the 

 one surviving member of an ancient stock, derived 

 from the same cycle of affinity as the Palaeozoic 

 Cordaiteae, once the dominant type of Gymnosperms. 



1 A. C. Seward, Jurassic Flora, Part i., 1900, p. 260. 



