Morphology of the Female Flower of Gnetum. 
view (conclusion 6), and their decision is no doubt justified by the evidence 
available. But it is possible that a closer acquaintance than we yet possess 
with the male flower of Ephedra and Gnetum will lead to a modification of 
the current views of its morphology.* 
None of MM. Lignier and Tison's conclusions has such far-reaching 
effects as that contained in the second half of No. 4 — viz. that the innermost 
envelope is a plurilocular ovary containing a single ovule. 
The somewhat diverse views held as to the natural position of the 
Gnetales f at least agree in placing the group in the vicinity of the top of 
the Gymnosperms and the bottom of the Angiosperms. Parlatore's con- 
clusion J that it is an " Ordo naturalis inter Coniferas et Casuarinaceas fere 
medius " is a particular rendering of the current view. More recent 
investigators have tended rather to emphasise the Angiosperm characters^ 
particularly of Gnetum and Welwitschia, and some have gone so far as to 
include the whole group among the Angiosperms. § 
The identification of the sporophyll would clearly constitute a fact of the 
first importance in the inquiry as to the relationships of the group. This is 
attended with great difficulty, for the ovule is apparently not borne on a 
leaf-structure of any kind ; its position and internal structure indicate that 
the nucellus is a simple prolongation of the floral axis. The search for the 
homologue of the carpel has been so vigorous that every structure imme- 
diately accessory to the Gnetalean ovule has, at one time or another, been 
recognised as a carpel or a number of concrescent carpels. Each of these 
diverse views commands some support, but none appears to be free from 
some vital objection ; they are tabulated below (Table 2). 
In 1908 Prof. Lignier || announced the opinion that the Gnetalean 
ovule, reduced to a naked nucellus, stands erect at the bottom of an ovary, 
and that the natural position of the group is among the Angiosperms, near 
the base of the Apetalae. In a reprint of this paper, published in 1911, 
the Gnetales are regarded as " plus elevees en organisation que je ne le 
croyais alors (1908), ce sont de veritables ■ angiospermes k organes floraux 
condenses et reduits."*f[ 
This view of the inner envelope is supported by most careful study of 
the floral organisation of Welwitschia,** the general conclusions from which 
were announced a year earlier. ff In the latter paper, ff the flowers of the 
three genera are referred to a common type consisting of an axis bearing 
four whorls of appendages and a naked ovule which *' semble prolonger 
* Cf. Pearson, 1915, C. 
f Arber and Parkin, 1908, pp. 492-495. 
% Parlatore, 1868, p. 348. 
§ Hallier, 1905, etc. 
II Lignier, 1908. ^ Idem, 1911, p. 61. 
** Lignier and Tison, 1912. ff Idem, 1911, A. 
