5 2 ° 
Gibbs. — On the Development of the 
The first species of Podocarpus known to science was P. elongata , 
L’Her., from the Cape of Good Hope. It was described by Solander in 
1788 ( 49 , p. 415) as T axus elongata , Sol. 
L’Heritier, in 1807 ( 31 , p. 580), refers this species to Podocarpus , giving 
the diagnosis as ‘ Nux ovata, i-locularis, receptaculum firmo semi-immersa \ 
R. Brown, in 1814 ( 11 , p. 47), describes Podocarpus as a double cupula, 
the external one (carpel) forming the drupa, with an aperture near its base 
or point of insertion. The inner cupula (ovary) is entirely enclosed in the 
outer one and similarly inverted. He speaks of stigma, style, and fruit. 
Richard, in 1826 ( 41 ), describes the female flower in this genus as 
anatropous, the funicle being only slightly indicated. This reversion 
(p. 125) is due to its being fused for its whole length with a unilateral, 
fleshy disc, produced at the apex, which corresponds to the base of the 
flower. This disc may be one of the scales of the involucre, adhering 
to and forming part of the flower. The pistil is enclosed in a single 
envelope, corresponding to the calyx, which, however, consists of two 
portions, an inner one, which thickens and becomes hard, and an outer 
fleshy one. 
Blume, in 1827 ( 5 , p. 88), gives the diagnosis for P. bracteata , BL, as 
‘ Ovarium basi squamula semicinctum. Stigma laterale, sessile \ 
Bennett and Brown, in 1838 (2, p. 36), in referring to the position of the 
Podocarpoideae, write : c The analogy of the scale with that which supports 
the seeds in the genus Pinus appears originally to have escaped the observa- 
tion of the elder Richard. It is singular that so unessential a character as the 
general solitary position of the ovuliferous scale should have induced all the 
authors who have attempted an arrangement of the Coniferae to separate 
Podocarpus and Dacrydium from the true Pines and to associate them with 
the Yew. 
‘ Their true position is in the Abietineae. The inverted ovula bears the 
same relation to the supporting scale as in the genera of that group.’ 
Endlicher, in 1840 ( 22 , p. 262), considered Podocarpus as bearing 
a single anatropous ovule, inserted on a fleshy disc, but later, in 1847 ( 23 , 
p. 204), he accepts R. Brown’s gymnospermous theory, and describes the 
inflorescence as composed of fertile scales in a lax spike, one or two 
flowered, the subtending bracts coalescing with the fleshy rachis, their 
apex alone remaining free. The solitary ovule with two integuments is 
reversed and sessile near the apex of the fertile scale, with which it is fused 
in its whole length. 
Payer, in i860 ( 39 , p. 60), describes the female flower as composed 
of a superior ovary surmounted by a style. This ovary is unilocular, with 
a naked ovule attached to the base of the cavity. 
Eichler, in 1863 ( 19 , p. 430), considered the outer investment of the 
female flower as an outer integument fused with the inner, and the whole 
