seed-spikes

Updated: June 13, 2025

Fir-trees of some three or four meters in height without a single branch, wholly naked and bearing leaves only on the shoots of the last year's growth at the apex of the tree, may be seen. Of course they cannot bear seed, and so it is with the sterile maize, which never produces any seed-spikes or staminate flowers.

Hugo de Vries - Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation