520 Ber ridge . — The Structure of the Flower of 
the three tiny bundles in the middle of the placental column. At a slightly 
higher level two more branches pass outwards and become associated 
with the neighbouring main bundles. These dorsal bundles (Fig. 7, d.b.) 
probably fuse in pairs during the course of the main bundles up the ovary 
wall, and each fused pair reappears at the base of the styles as a single 
strand representing the dorsal bundle of the carpel. 
In addition to the above, numerous anastomosing strands spring from 
the carpellary bundles themselves, and from their dorsal branches, and 
run inwards to form the circle of bundles in the placental column, which 
at a higher level breaks up into the ovular traces. These anastomosing 
strands are represented diagrammatically in Fig. 7 by the dotted 
Fig. 7. Diagram representing arrangement of bundles in the base of the ovary of the flower of 
Castanopsis. mb., main bundles of wall; c.b., carpellary bundles; d.b., branches running out- 
wards to the main bundles ; p.b . , vascular strands running to the placenta. 
lines p.b . The dorsal branches almost invariably give off one of these 
placental strands just at the point where they join the main bundles of 
the wall, so that the latter, i. e. the perianth and stamen traces, appear to 
contribute to these ovular bundles, but in longitudinal sections it is quite 
clear that there is no direct union between the two sets of traces. 
Fig. 8 shows the relations between two carpellary bundles (c.b.), with 
their numerous branches, and the neighbouring main bundles supplying 
perianth leaves and stamens. The common origin of these two sets of 
bundles, as well as the fusion of the dorsal stylar branches with the main 
bundles, are facts wholly unfavourable to Wettstein’s view that this is one 
of the most primitive forms of bisexual flowers, and that it has arisen 
