125 
Tree (Ginkgo bilob a, Li). 
examples in which the peduncle bore four seeds, each sup¬ 
ported on a slender stalk instead of two almost sessile 
ovules 1 . Eichler 2 criticized these views, and looked upon 
the fleshy part of the seed as an inner integument, and the 
collar at the base of the ovule as the outer integument. The 
same author, writing in 1889 3 , speaks of the collar as a rudi¬ 
mentary carpel and the peduncle and its two ovules as a 
single flower. Van Tieghem 4 also considers the peduncle 
and ovules to be a single flower, the peduncle or flower-stalk 
being homologous with the petiole of a foliage-leaf and the 
two ovules comparable to the two lobes of a typical Ginkgo 
leaf; flowers bearing more than two ovules he compares with 
multilobed leaves. Van Tieghem describes the vascular 
system of the peduncle and its subtending leaf, and regards 
the collar of each ovule as a rudimentary arillus. According 
to Celakovsky the peduncle is a shoot bearing two or more 
carpels, each carpel being much reduced and transformed in 
its terminal portion into an ovule. He considers the peduncle 
with two ovules to be a reduced form, and looks upon the 
abnormal examples, in which one stalk bears more than two 
ovules, as valuable indications of the former existence of 
a type of Ginkgo flower which normally bore several ovules 5 . 
A Japanese author has recently summarized the chief views 
on the morphology of the female flower, and has himself 
contributed important evidence towards the solution of this 
vexed question 6 . He speaks of the peduncle as a shoot 
bearing two rudimentary carpels, and usually characterized 
by the suppression of the apical bud. Fujii adduces some 
interesting evidence in support of his views derived from 
a study of abnormal flowers in which ovules occur on more 
or less modified foliage-leaves (Fig. 61, PI. X); he found 
1 Strasburger (’79) ; vide also Goppert (’50), PI. xlix, Fig. 5 ; Loudon (’75), 
Fig- j 758 ; Saporta and Marion (’85), p. 139 . 
2 Eichler (73). 3 Ibid. (’89). 
4 Van Tieghem (’69), (’91), p. 1460 . 
5 Celakovsky (’90), p. 43 . Vide postea, p. 145 . 
6 Fujii (’96) ; Potonie (98), p. 285 , has recently suggested a comparison between 
the female flower of Ginkgo and the leaf of Botrychium. 
