On the Cycadeoideae, a family of fossil plants found on the oolite quarries of the Isle of Portland / [William Buckland].

  • William Buckland
Date:
[1828]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the Cycadeoideae, a family of fossil plants found on the oolite quarries of the Isle of Portland / [William Buckland]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PLATES XLVI. XLVII. XLVIII. XLIX. Illustrate Professor Buckland’s paper on the Cycadeoideae, a family of fossil plants found in the oolitic series of the Isle of Portland. Plate XLVI. Fig. ]. Section near the base of a Cycas revoluta, in the possession of Mr. R. Brown, from a plant that died at Kew. The thinness of the outer case, composed of the bases of leaves, arises from its proximity to the root. The body of the trunk is a mass of spongy pith-like cellular tissue, in which are imbedded two laminated circles of unequal width near the centre : in the cellular tissue is much farinaceous matter. Fig. 2. Section of Cycas circinalis or Todda Panna, copied from PI. XXI. vol. iii. of Rheede’s Hortus Malabaricus. This stem, like fig. 1, is composed of a pith-like substance containing sago, in which seven laminated circles are disposed near the centre, with a broad ring of cellular matter exterior to the outer circle. Accord- ing to this drawing, the case of the trunk has smooth rings, and is not so entirely composed of the bases of leaves and stipules as in the recent specimen of Cycas circinalis, engraved by Dr. Hooker, PI. 2826 of Curtis’s Bot. Mag. July, 1828 : and as there can be no doubt of the accuracy of this plate, it is probable that in the older drawing ofRheede, this part of the structure was incorrectly represent- ed. Dr. Hooker observes that in Richard’s plate, as in that of Rheede, the stems are strongly annulated, more so than Dr. Hamilton ever saw them on the growing plant. For further details connected with this subject, see Richard’s Memoires sur les Coniferes et Cycad&es ; Mr. R. Brown’s Appendix to Capt. King’s Narra- tive of a Survey of the Coast of Australia; and Curtis’s Bot. Mag. No. 18 and 19, New Series, June and July, 1828. Fig. 3, represents a section of a Zamia horrida, in the possession of Charles Stokes, Esq. made in the direction of the line A B fig. 4. Fig. 4. Reduced representation of a living plant of Zamia horrida. Plate XLVII. Cycadeoidea megalophylla.—The peculiar features of this specimen have been so fully explained in the text, as to render further description needless. Plate XLVIII. Cycadeoidea megalophylla.—This specimen supplies the structure of important parts of the fossil Caudex, which are scarcely visible to the naked eye. The magnified
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