Female ‘Flower ' in Coniferae. 61 
leaves, as, from the earliest stage onward, it appears as a 
single outgrowth. Neither do there occur two symmetrically- 
placed bundles, one belonging to each part of the scale, as in 
the needle of Sciadopitys , but, on the contrary, the single one, 
or the two in the base, divide up into a number, all having 
the same orientation. Owing to the abnormal appearance of 
an axillary bud and its great pressure on the seminiferous 
scale as a result of the compact arrangement of the scales on 
the cone, the bud causes the separation of the seminiferous 
scale into two parts, whereby it assumes the appearance of 
bearing them as its two first leaves. 
In the Taxodineae there is a distinct ventral outgrowth, 
with its own bundle-system, whose parts have inverted orien¬ 
tation. In Cupressineae the ovules are so close to the base of 
the bract that they may be called axillary. Where many 
ovules occur in the axil they are seated on the axis of the 
cone for a short distance as well as on the scale (C. semper - 
virens), so that no strict distinction can be made between the 
ovules which are developed on the axis and those arising on 
the scale. They usually occupy the middle of the axil. 
Where two are present they occur right and left; in Juni- 
perus one of these is usually absent. No differentiated ventral 
outgrowth is present in this order; the scale appears either 
quite simple or exhibits a more or less pronounced ventral 
swelling depressing the bract, as in Sequoia and Taxodium , 
and more or less clearly distinguished from it. The inverted 
orientation of the upper bundles is caused by the peltate 
thickening of the scale, and, as a natural consequence of this, 
the scale is at first exactly similar to the lower vegetative 
leaves ; in the base of the scale all the bundles are arranged 
in a circle just as in the stalk of any peltate foliage-leaf. 
Although the scales cannot be said with certainty to bear the 
ovules, and possibly represent only bracts, they are in reality 
open carpels. In the Podocarpeae there is also but a single 
leaf. In Microcachrys the inner bundle-system does not even 
exist, which is due to the fleshiness of the carpel. It is 
represented in Dacrydium by two weak branches, with inverted 
