(_a_) _Ovulate shoots._ These are represented by a considerable number of forms in both European and American localities. In rare cases the compound shoot reaches a length of 30 cm. (fig. 479), but it is usually much shorter; the lateral compact buds may be more or less widely separated: the seeds have long pedicels (fig. 480, A) or appear to be sessile (fig. 480, B) and there may be one or several seeds on a single lateral shoot. The seeds are platyspermic and, as seen in fig. 480, A, in some inflorescences they show very clearly the _Samaropsis_ features. It would, however, be unsafe to assume that all _Samaropsis_ seeds were borne on Cordaitean plants. Among other types of seed referred by authors to _Cordaites_ are _Cardiocarpus_, _Cordaicarpus_, _Sarcotaxus_, _Taxospermum_, _Diplotesta_, and _Leptocaryon_. But in most cases there is no evidence of actual connexion between seeds and vegetative organs, and while it is possible to state with confidence that many of the seeds represented by impressions described as species of _Samaropsis_ and _Cordaicarpus_ are undoubtedly Cordaitean, it is certain that not all seeds referable to these genera were borne by Cordaitalean plants. Cordaitean seeds are characterised by certain morphological features recalling those found in recent Cycads and in the seeds of _Ginkgo_ as illustrated by species of _Cardiocarpus_ and some allied types. As most of the Palaeozoic seeds known in a petrified state cannot be assigned to their parent-plants they are dealt with in a separate chapter[708]. _Cordaianthus Pitcairniae_ (Lindley and Hutton). This type of inflorescence[709] is considered by Kidston to belong to the tree which bore leaves known as _Cordaites principalis_, but if this is the case it is probable that the stem possessed the anatomical characters of _Mesoxylon_. [Illustration: Fig. 480. A, _Cordaianthus Pitcairniae_ with _Samaropsis_ seeds. B, _Cordaianthus Volkmanni_. B′, portion of B enlarged. (A, B, nat. size; Kidston Coll. 2374, 1174.)] The portion of an inflorescence shown in fig. 480, A, from the Middle Coal Measures of Yorkshire, illustrates the occurrence of the bud-like fertile shoots and the stalked _Samaropsis_ seeds. A species described by Renault[710] from Commentry as _Cordaianthus acicularis_ may be identical with the British species. _Cordaianthus Volkmanni_ Ettingshausen. The example of this species[711] seen in fig. 480, B, shows the relatively small size of the lateral buds, presumably unexpanded, compared with the large subtending bracts. =Petrified specimens of Cordaianthus.=