An Unusual Bisexual Agathis Cone 
Ronald M. Lanner 1 
Bisexual cones have been observed in many 
genera of the Coniferae. Normally such a cone 
consists of a functional male strobilus with 
several ovulate scales at the distal end. This 
configuration has been found in Finns, Picea , 
Pseudotsuga, Juniper us, Sequoia, and Abies 
(Jack, 1895; Coulter and Chamberlain, 1910; 
Littlefield, 1931; Mergen and Koerting, 1957; 
Mergen, 1963). According to Chamberlain 
(1935:279), cases have been reported in which 
the base was female and the tip male, but he 
cites no examples or references. Perhaps the 
only published report of such a cone is Pauley’s 
description (1942:62) of a single bisexual 
strobilus of Picea glauca (Moench) Voss. 2 
A fallen bisexual cone of Queensland kauri 
(. Agathis brownii [Lemaire] L. H. Bailey) was 
found in May, 1964 at the nursery of the 
Hawaii Forestry Division at Hilo, Hawaii. It 
was female at the base and male at the tip 
(Fig. 1). Examination of several thousand other 
fallen male cones from 25 trees failed to turn 
up another that was in any way anomalous. 
Such cones are fairly common, however, on 
some Queensland kauris growing in Honolulu. 3 
The genus Agathis is native to Australia, 
New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji, the Philip- 
pines, and the Malay Peninsula. Dallimore and 
Jackson (1961 : 176-177) placed it in the 
Araucarinae Tribe of the Pinaceae. 
Though female at the base, this bisexual cone 
lacked the persistent stalk of the normal seed 
cone (Fig. 1). It was cast in the same way as 
were the normal male strobili. When examined 
under low magnification, the cone showed ap- 
1 Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment 
Station, Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agricul- 
ture, Hilo, Hawaii. Present address: School of For- 
estry, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota. 
2 An account of similar cones on Picea smithiana 
Boiss. by Santamour (1959) was noticed after sub- 
mission of this article. 
3 Personal correspondence with R. K. LeBarron, 
Hawaii Forestry Division, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 2, 
1964, and examination of his specimens. 
parently normal development of both the ovu- 
late and the staminate scales. Pollen was almost 
ready to be shed, and many ovules had devel- 
oped into immature seeds with well-defined 
wings. 
REFERENCES 
Chamberlain, C. J. 1935. Gymnosperms, 
Structure and Evolution. Univ. Chicago Press, 
Chicago, xi -f- 484 pp., 397 figs. 
Coulter, J. M., and C. J. Chamberlain. 
1910. Morphology of Gymnosperms. Univ. 
Chicago Press, Chicago, xi -|- 458 pp. 
Dallimore, W., and A. B. Jackson. 1961. A 
Handbook of Coniferae, Including Gink- 
goaceae. 3rd ed. Edward Arnold, London, 
xvi -J- 686 pp., 39 pis., 120 figs. 
Jack, J. G. 1895. Some unusual androgynous 
Fig. 1 . Normal and bisexual cones of Queensland 
kauri compared. Left to right: normal male strobilus 
just after pollen shedding; bisexual cone; immature 
female cone. Scale is in inches. 
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