277 
fugal xylem, besides there are two sets of protoxylem, 
one attached to the centrifugal, the other to the centripetal 
xylem. According to this the author regards Cephalotaxus 
as the most ancient of the coniferous genera and says 
that it is to be expected that it will exhibit in its most 
primitive organs similar characteristics as those we find 
in Cycads and in Ginkgo. And then he continues , Now 
the most primitive foliar organs of any plant are, to my 
mind, the cofyledon and the ovular integument” (p. 318). 
Whether we may agree with this opinion, and as to 
the comparison with Ginkgo and the Cycads I will speak 
about in the discussion. 
$ 27. Torreya nucifera Sieb. et Zucc. 
Literature: Coulter and Land (52), Oliver (100), 
Etlger (li): 
Material: Bot. Gard. Rome. 
CT ORO: 
The female strobili of Torreya are borne in the axils 
of the lowermost leaves of short shoots and usually they 
occur in pairs on very short axillary branches. The number 
of them is different and varies from two to six on one 
strobiliferous shoot, but the upper pairs never come to 
maturity and only the lowest one produces the large 
plum-like seeds. 
The branch on which the strobili arise is much reduced 
and bears only a few pairs of leaves; in the axil of one 
or more of them a strobilus occurs. This is composed of 
two pairs of decussate bracts surrounding the terminal 
ovule, which in a young stage is provided with one 
integument only and an annular wall at its base, but soon 
the latter develops and envelops the whole ovule as a 
