Gnetum africanum , with Notes on Gnetum scandens . 1103 
In Gnetum scandens the fertilized ovule is later carried out on a stout 
stalk (Fig. 1 A, PL LXXXVI). Each female flower consists of an ovule 
enclosed in three coverings, the outer of which is, according to the species, 
green, orange or red , 1 and more or less succulent, resembling in texture 
the bracts and cupule, while the two inner are more specialized and are 
referred to in this paper as the outer and inner integument 
The female inflorescence is said 2 commonly to terminate in a flower ; 
this has been once observed to be apparently the case in G. africanum . 
In the male inflorescence the cushion bears a ring of stamens, and above 
these a number of abortive ovules each consisting of a nucellus with two 
coverings. 
II. Anatomy of Inflorescence Axis and Cupules in G. africanum 
AND G. SCANDENS. 
(a) The general structure in the node and in the internode of the 
inflorescence axis is strikingly different . 3 In the internode of a young in¬ 
florescence the structure resembles in all particulars, except a greatly 
increased diameter, that of the naked peduncle on which the cone is 
borne. 
The peduncle and the internodes of the young inflorescence axis are made 
up of thin-walled parenchymatous tissue, in which a few branched fibres 
with lignified walls are scattered at intervals , 4 and are traversed by a ring 
of simple collateral vascular bundles, each of which grows in thickness by 
means of a cambium. In the older inflorescences there are a few concentric 
groups of bundles outside the main ring ; these may be continuous throughout 
the internode . 5 6 * * 
The simple main ring of bundles characteristic of the internode runs up 
into the node; the number of bundles in the ring increases to some extent 
with the age of the inflorescence, but there is no regular interfascicular cam¬ 
bium. In G. africanum there are generally 8-12 bundles in the ring, and 
there does not appear to be any further increase in number in the oldest 
inflorescences in my material ; in G. scandens as many as 16-20 may occur 
in quite young inflorescences, and new bundles are still being inserted be¬ 
tween the old ones, according as the appendicular organs require a larger 
vascular supply. 
1 Lotsy, 1899, p. 53 ; Griffith, 1859, p. 303, &c.; Karsten, 1893 (1). 
2 Strasburger, 1879, P- 11 8. 
3 This account applies mainly to the female inflorescence axis of G. africanum ; the material of 
G. scandens showed much the same features, but, owing to the inflorescence being younger, they 
were less marked. 
4 These fibres resemble the ‘ spicular cells ’ in Welwitschia , but have no crystals embedded in 
their walls ; Sykes, 1910 (1), p. 181. 
6 Cf. Worsdell, 1901, p. 772. In Welwitschia such concentric strands are numerous; see ibid., 
and also Sykes, 1910 (1), p. 194. See., and (2) p. 341. 
4 C 2 
