PROLIFERATION. 



23 



comprehensive and ingenious treatment of the whole 

 subject, created what may be regarded as an impreg- 

 nable position for the view originally enunciated by 

 Alex. Braun. By a careful study of the series of 

 abnormalities he has displayed a continuous and 

 gradual transition (and this is the important point) 

 between the first two leaves of the axillary shoot and 

 the normal ovuliferous scale. He has also clearly 

 shown that in Finns a third anterior leaf of the axillary 

 shoot, revolving through 1 80°, takes part, along with 

 the first pair of leaves, in the formation of the ovuli- 

 ferous scale.* Velenovsky observed in proliferated 

 larch-cones an axillary shoot which bore not only the 

 two fleshy transverse ovuliferous leaves, but also a 

 number of other similar leaves, each bearing an ovule 

 ori its lower surface. This fact certainly supports 

 Braun' s theory. f 



Celakovsky regards the ovuliferous scale in the 

 Araucarieae, where it is clearly not a compound but a 

 single organ, bearing but one ovule, as consisting of a 

 single leaf of the first leaf-pair of the axillary bud. 

 This will explain the presence of the unique ovule. 

 The same explanation is probably applicable to the 

 case of the Podocarpese where but a single ovule also 

 occurs. 



In the Taxodineae the scale often consists of several 

 parts, representing the fusion of more than three leaves 

 of the axillary bud. In the Cupressineae the inter- 

 pretation is the same as for the Abietinese. 



In the Araucarieae and some Taxodineae, e. g. 

 Sequoia, there is every appearance of there being but 

 a single scale present and not two fused together. 

 And in the former group there are no abnormalities 

 known which might indicate what the true state is. 

 Celakovsky reaches his conclusion on comparative 

 grounds. Velenovsky, while agreeing with him, 



* With this should be compared the curious axillary scales of an abnormal 

 pine-cone described in vol. i of this work. 



f Celakovsky eventually held that the ovuliferous scale represents the 

 vegetatively-developed outer integuments of the ovule. 



