V. On the cytological features of fertilization and related phenomena in pinus silvestris L

Abstract

In spite of the attention which has of late years been devoted to the study of the | histology of fertilization in plants, no one has hitherto investigated in detail the cytological features of this process in the Abietinese. The oospheres of this group, owing to their large size and the presence of a quantity of food material, present a strong resemblance to a well-known type of animal ova. The fact that in this type of ovum the phenomena of fertilization are usually both much more striking and much more easily followed than is the case among plants, suggested that the oospheres of the Abietineae might be peculiarly favourable objects for study. It was with this idea that the work described in the present paper was begun in 1894.