The Gametophytes, Fertilization and Embryo of 
Cephalotaxus drupacea. 
BY 
ANSTRUTHER A. LAWSON, Ph.D. 
Assistant Professor of Botany in Stanford University , California, UP. A. 
With Plates I-IV. 
Introduction. 
O the morphologist or to the cytologist there are few groups of 
A plants which offer more attractive features than the Coniferales. This 
is not only true of the sporophyte structures, but is particularly true of the 
gametophyte, for here every phase in the history of the sexual generation 
reveals the development of structures which are of profound interest in 
regard to their morphological meaning. The facts concerning the 
behaviour and development of such gametophytic structures are, therefore, 
from the point of morphology alone, worthy of record. 
The results of investigations on the comparative anatomy of the 
sporophyte, together with the evidence which is gradually accumulating 
from the study of fossil forms, is bringing us nearer to an understanding of 
the true phylogeny of the Coniferales, but at present such an understanding 
is far from perfect. That we are not yet warranted in establishing the true 
phylogenetic relationships of the Coniferales and their various sub-groups, 
is due mainly to the fact that the strongest kind of evidence, that of the 
fossils, is at present disconnected and in places contradictory. In view of 
the gaps in the chain of evidence from the paleobotanical side, a knowledge 
of the primitive structures associated with the gametophyte generation 
becomes imperative. That our knowledge of such structures has had 
much to do in modifying our ideas as to the phylogeny of the various 
groups of Gymnosperms, we need only refer to the effect of the discoveries 
of Hofmeister, Strasburger, Hirase, Ikeno, and Webber, to say nothing of 
the great amount of literature which has more recently accumulated on the 
gametophytes of the Abietineae, Cupressineae, Taxodieae, and Taxeae. 
Indeed, many of the discoveries recently made are so extraordinary that 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXI. No. LXXXI. January, 1907.] 
