THE GYMNOSPERMAE : COXIFERALES AND TAXALES 699 



Fig. 700. — Ta.xus haccata. A full-grown tree in a country churchyard. 



Palisade tissue 



Transfusion tissue 

 Spongy tissue 



Vascular bundle 



Fig. 701. — Taxus baccota. Transverse section of the leaf. 



Reproduction 



The Yew is dioecious like other members of the order, but apart from the 

 reproductive organs there is no apparent difference between trees of the two 

 sexes. 



The INIale Cone 



The male strobili are borne in the axils of the leaves on shoots of the 

 preceding year and usually appear in February (Fig. 702). Each consists of 

 a very short axis bearing at its base about a dozen bract-scales, spirally 

 inserted, increasing in size upwards. The top of the axis bears a cluster of 

 male sporophylls, so closely inserted as to appear umbellate (Fig. 703). 

 There is no vegetative apex. Each sporophyll ends in a peltate shield, like 

 the head of an umbrella, beneath which are six to eight oval pollen sacs, 



