The Structure of the Female ‘Flower’ 
in Coniferae. 
An Historical Study. 
BY 
W. C. WORSDELL, F.L.S. 
With seven Figures in the Text. 
Introduction. 
There are few structures in plants which, to the ordinary 
observer, appear at first sight more simple or more easily 
understood than the female reproductive parts of the great 
order Coniferae. Yet the problem of the true morphology 
and structure of these organs has taxed the mental and 
observational resources of expert investigators for a longer 
period of time than, and to as great a degree as, any other 
botanical question of a similar nature. And still, at the 
present time, the nature of these organs, for the majority of 
botanists at any rate, remains the unsolved problem that it 
was at the very beginning of the century. 
It is highly instructive to the modern morphological 
student to cast a retrospective look at the various views on 
the question which, for more than a century and a half, have 
from time to time been put forward by the botanists of 
France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Italy, America, 
and this country. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XIV, No, LIII. March, igoo.] 
