iio 4 Thoday.—-The Female Inflorescence and Ovules of 
Each bundle is made up chiefly of secondary elements; the crushed 
primary phloem and the torn spiral protoxylem are, however, clearly 
recognizable. 1 The secondary xylem throughout the inflorescences is 
mainly composed of narrow reticulately thickened elements. 
The structure at the node is much more complicated. Besides the main 
ring of bundles there are two outer rings concentric with it, the middle one 
being orientated inversely to the other two. The two outer rings are con¬ 
cerned with the supply of cupules and flowers ; they are connected with the 
main series, and in the older inflorescences are also continuous with the small 
additional concentric bundles found in the internodes. Below the bracts at 
the base of the spike and below each bract cupule, the pith tends to become 
lignified, the lignification spreading centripetally from the xylem of the main 
bundles. 2 3 In the older inflorescences of G . africanuni z this tendency to 
lignification of the pith extends throughout the internode ; while at the nodes, 
probably owing to the tissue tensions brought about by the rapid growth of 
the cushion, the pith is torn and hollow (Text-figs. 2 and 5). The tension 
under which the node has increased in size has also resulted in the develop¬ 
ment of large spaces in the pericyclic region of each bundle; these spaces 
are crossed at intervals by trabeculae (Fig. 4, PL LXXXVI). Throughout 
the node the thick-walled fibres increase greatly in number, both in the pith 
and more especially in the outer layers of the cortex, where they form 
a more or less continuous strengthening band. 
Text-fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through a node, and shows the 
hollow pith with its numerous fibres, and the ovular bases sunk in the swollen 
cushion in the axil of the bract cupule. Fig. 3 A, PI. LXXXVI, is taken from 
a section through the base of the node and shows the cushion, covered 
with hairs, surrounded by the free apex of the cupule. Fig. 3 B, PI. LXXXVI, 
through the middle of the node, shows the sunken ovule and the interovular 
portions of the cushion which are peltate in transverse sections. 
Bracts and Cupule . Both the basal pair of bracts and the cupule are 
specialized for protective functions. The epidermis is thick-walled, and 
corky excrescences appear in places. Stomata are very rare, occurring 
mainly on the decurrent bases of the cupules and bracts, but being entirely 
absent from the free tip. Numerous branched fibres with lignified walls 
occur throughout the tissues. The free portion of the cupule has a muci¬ 
laginous subepidermal layer on its inner surface (m, Fig. 5, PL LXXXVI). 
The vascular bundles supplying the cupules pass out horizontally from 
the main bundles and then run downwards, afterwards turning sharply 
upwards into the free tip. They are thus often cut twice in a transverse 
1 Contrast the absence of protoxylem in the cone axis of Welwitschia\ Sykes, 1910 (2), 
P- 339 * 
3 See Worsdell, 1901, p. 772. 
8 The material of G. scandens was too young for comparison with this stage. 
