THE 



AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



[FOURTH SERIES.] 



Art. XXYII. — Notes on Living Cycads. I. On the Zamias 

 of Florida ; by G-. R. Wieland. 



The Cycads of Florida have recently been found by Webber* 

 to include with certainty two species, Zamia floridana DC, 

 and Z. pumila L. It is hence not known that Z. augustifolia 

 Jacqueminot, f and Z. integrifolia Aiton,J are represented in 

 Florida at all, or if indeed these latter are two distinct 

 species. Nothing short of the comparison of plants from 

 many localities, both insular and from the mainland well to the 

 south, will settle this point, and also determine whether any 

 other species than Z. floridana and pumila are indigenous 

 to Florida. 



The excellent figure given us that of Z. integrifolia in L. CI. 

 Richards' Monograph on the Conifers and Cycads (1828) is 

 doubtless referable to Z. pumila L., the broader pinnules of 

 which give the foliage of this plant a distinctly different 

 appearance from that of Z. floridana. This, however, is not 

 given as the only reason for the presentation of carefully drawn 

 figures of the latter species. Illustration has improved in 

 three-quarters of a century. Moreover, the discoveries, both 

 botanical and paleobotanical, of the last half-dozen years 

 have added extraordinary interest to our American cycads, 

 showing them to be of elementary and fundamental impor- 

 tance from the student's point of view. The classic work of 

 Webber, and of Ikeno and Hirase, has made this especially 

 clear. 



Fortunately our abundant living cycad material may be 

 readily had in most northern laboratories, it having been found 

 by Webber (loc. cit.) that the fertilization processes, especially 



* Spermatogenesis and Fecundation of Zamia. (Pp. 1-92 and 7 plates.) 

 Bulletin No. 2 of Bureau of Plant Industry, Washington, Dec. 28, 1901. 

 f Coll. Ill, 263, Ins. Baham. 

 \ Hort. Kew. 3, p. 478. London, 1789. Ind. occ. 



Am. Jour. Sci. — Fourth Series, Vol. XIII, No. 77.— May, 1902. 

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