STAMINATE STROBILUS OF TAXUS CANADENSIS 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE HULL BOTANICAL LABORATORY 255 



A. W. Duple R 

 (with PLATES XXIV-XXVI AND TWENTY-TWO FIGURES) 



Introduction 



In a previous paper (8) the writer described the gametophytes of 

 Taxus canadensis Marsh., with the statement that other phases of 

 the morphology would be treated in later papers. In this paper the 

 staminate structures with respect to development and vascular 

 anatomy are described. The lack of detailed information con- 

 cerning these structures has seemed to the writer sufficient justifica- 

 tion for the investigation here reported. In view of the generally 

 recognized conservative character of the staminate structures in 

 conifers, it seems that a more extended investigation of them, in the 

 group as a whole, would be worth while. The description of the 

 ovulate structures will be given in another paper. 



The general statement in the previous paper as to material and 

 methods will also apply here. The writer is under obligations to 

 Professor W. L. Eikenberry, of the University of Kansas, for some 

 material collected in northern Illinois a number of years ago. 

 Acknowledgments are also due Professors John M. Coulter and 

 C. J. Chamberlain, under whose direction the study of Taxus 

 canadensis was begun. 



Historical 



While the male gametophyte and its attendant features have 

 received considerable attention, apart from the general more 

 obvious features very little is found in the literature dealing with 

 Taxus as to the morphology of the staminate strobilus itself. The 

 earlier workers who studied the staminate structures of conifers 

 were concerned largely in attempts to interpret them in terms of the 

 angiosperm flower, naturally leading to confusion as to the true 

 nature of the structures. These earlier views have been sum- 

 marized by VON Mohl (26) in perhaps one of the most important 



345] [Botanical Gazette, voL 68 



