CONIFERM. 
nation, which is apparently brought about by insects, the carpels separate from one 
another, and the micropyle excretes a fluid to which the pollen-grains adhere. The 
outer layer of the testa is usually fleshy, the inner one hard, and the seed therefore 
resembles a plum, with its surface often brightly coloured. 
B. CON I FE 
Germination. The endosperm surrounds the embryo in the form of a thick- 
walled sac open at the radicular end ; the embryo lies straight in the central cavity of 
the endosperm ; its axis is continuous behind with the rudiment of the primary root, 
and bears at its anterior end a whorl of two or more cotyledonary leaves, between 
which it terminates in a roundish apex (Fig. 346 /). The Taxineae and most 
Cupressineae and Araucarieae have two opposite cotyledons, although in some 
Cupressineae there are from three to nine, and in some Araucarieae whorls of four 
cotyledons ; while among the Abietineae there are rarely so few as two, more often 
four or even as many as, fifteen. To refer this larger number of cotyledons to the 
division of two opposite ones, as Duchartre proposes, is entirely opposed to the other 
processes of leaf-formation in these plants, especially to the common occurrence of 
whorls consisting of several leaves on the growing axis of seedlings. 
When placed in damp soil the endosperm swells up, bursts the testa at the 
radicular end of the embryo, which is then pushed out by the elongation of the axis, 
and grows into a strong descending tap-root, from which lateral roots proceed, suc- 
ceeding one another rapidly in acropetal succession, and subsequently branching. 
This is the commencement of the root-system of Conifers, which is frequently 
strongly developed and persistent. After the emergence of the root, the coty- 
ledons elongate in their turn, push out their bases from the seed and the end of 
the axis that lies between them, but they themselves remain in the endosperm until 
it has been absorbed. In Araucaria (sub-genus Colymbed) and in Salisburia the 
hypocotyledonary portion of the axis remains short, and the cotyledons remain 
^ For the structure of the flowers, see R. Brown, On the Plurality and Development of the 
Embryos in the Seeds of Coniferse : Misc. Bot. Works, London, 1866, vol. I. pp. 567-576. — H. von 
Mohl, Vermischt. Schrift, pp. 25 and 49. — Schacht, Lehrb. der Anat. u. Phys. vol. II. p. 433. — Eichler 
in Flora, 1863, p. 530, [and Nat. Hist. Rev. 1864, pp. 270-290; Flora, 1873, and Trans. Bot. Soc. 
Edin. 1873, pp. 535-541. — Dickson, Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin. VI. p. 420 ; New Phil. Journ. 1861, pp. 198, 
199. — J. D. Hooker, On the Ovary oi Siphonodon in Trans. Linn. Soc. XXTI. pp. 137, 138. — Caspary 
in Ann. des Sei. Nat. 4th series, vol. XIV. p. 200, and Flora, 1862, p. 377. — Brongniart, Bull. Bot. Soc. 
France, XVIII. p. 141. — Van Tieghem, Ann. des Sei. Nat. 5th series, vol. X.] Yov the fertilisation, 
Hofmeister in Vergl. Unters. 1851 [On the Germination, Development, and Fructification of the 
Higher Cryptogams, Ray Soc, pp. 400-433.] — Strasburger, Die Befruchtung der Coniferen, Jena 
1869. For the pollen, Schacht in Jahr. f. wiss. Bot. vol. II. p. 142. — Strasburger, Ueber die Bestäu- 
bung der Gymnospermen, Jenaische Zeitschr. vol. VI. Also in addition : [Zuccarini, Morphology of 
the Coniferoe, Ray Soc. Rep. and Pap. on Bot. 1845.] — Pfitzer, Ueber den Embryo der Coniferen, 
Niederrhein. Ges. für Natur, u. Heilk. Aug. 7, 1871. — Reinke, Ueber das Spitzenwachsthum der 
Gymnosperm-Wurzeln, Göttinger Nachr. 1871, p. 530. — [Strasburger, Die Coniferen u. die Gnetaceen ; 
eine morphologische Studie, Jena 1872. — Eichler, Sind die Coniferen gymnosperm oder nicht? Flora 
1873, and Blüihendiagramme, I. 1875. — Strasburger, Die Angiospermen und die Gymnospermen, 
1879.] 
