1915] 



AASE—M EGASPOROPHYLLS OF CONIFERS 



In a species of the subgenus Eupodocarpus (figs. 1 71-182) the 

 ovule-bearing branch is a dwarf lateral branch bearing at its tip 

 one and occasionally two fertile sporophylls, and a few small bracts 

 some distance below. The single inverted ovule is imbedded in 

 the tissues of the " epimatium," which there is evidence for believing 

 to be homologous with the ovuliferous scale in other conifers. At 

 maturity the portion of the fruiting branch between the fertile 

 sporophylls and the upper sterile bracts becomes fleshy. 



Figs. iji-iSi—Podocarpus (sp. of Eupodocarpus): figs. 171-181, transverse 

 sections from base of uppermost sterile bracts (fig. 1S2, STB) to tip of strobilus; sib, 

 bundles supplying sterile pair of bracts; b, bundle supplying sterile bract opposite 

 fertile sporophyll; s, bundles inclining toward sterile bract then ending; b', bundle 

 supplying bract of fertile sporophyll; s 1 , two bundles uniting into one enter scale of 

 fertile sporophyll where the single bundle breaks into three (fig. 179, s 1 ,, s' 2 , s l s ); distal 

 to chalaza each of three bundles bends to pass down dorsal side of ovnle (figs. 180, 181 ; 

 fig. 179; dotted lines between bundles indicate that one bundle is a continuation of the 

 other); fig. 1S2, longitudinal section of strobilus; X7- 



The vascular anatomy was investigated only in cases of one 

 fertile sporophyll. The vascular supply of the branch axis, after 

 the traces to the sterile bracts have gone out, consists of three 

 small and three large bundles. The median of the three smaller 

 bundles enters what in the young stages appears like a bract 

 opposite the fertile sporophyll ; the two small lateral bundles bend 

 in the same direction as the small median bundle, then end. The 



