Female Strohilus in Podocarpus . 521 
flower therefore equivalent in organization to an anatropous ovule. Later, 
in 1875 (20, p. 62), he accepted Strasburger’s ‘cupula’ theory. 
In 1889 ( 21 , p. 46), in the ‘ Pflanzenfamilien he describes, without 
hesitation, (definitely) the seeds in Podocarpeae as anatropous, a funicle 
being indicated in Podocarpus only ; and in this genus two integuments are 
also present, which are fused together. 
Parlatore, in 1864 ( 38 , p. 19), considers the ? ‘amenta’ of the Podo- 
carpeae as presenting a similar type of organization to the Conifers. The 
female flower he describes as reversed and enclosed in two involucres ; the 
inner urceolate, with a circular orifice at the apex, is formed from the upper 
bracts, the outer from the two subtending bracteoles, which are fused with 
each other and the inner involucre. 
He apparently considers the nucellus as an ovary. 
Favre, in 1865 ( 24 , p. 382), pronounces the flower to be an erect 
anatropous ovule, with an inner and outer integument, the latter penetrated 
by a raphe, which terminates in an ‘ expansion chalazienne ’. The ovule is 
surrounded by the two almost completely fused integuments. 
Brongniart, in 1866 ( 9 ,p. 239), describes the female branch as terminated 
by three scales fused together for most of their length, of which one bears 
an erect anatropous ovule. 
Carriere, in 1867 ( 12 , p. 644), describes the ovuliferous scales of Podo- 
carpus as naked, or accompanied at the base by a cymbiform bract. 
The solitary fruit, inserted on the middle of the scale, or a little below 
the apex, is free or adnate, broader at the base, with a double integument, 
the exterior sometimes completely adhering (adnate) to the interior one. 
The latter is prolonged in a tube which projects on the outside (‘ faisant 
sail lie en dehors ’). 
Sperk, in 1869 ( 50 , p. 69), looks upon the structure of the ‘stalk’ of the 
flower and the scale into which it merges as partly analogous to the structure 
of the ovuliferous scale of the Abietineae, with which, as in Podocarpus , 
there is a fusion of the ovary with the scale, also a reversal of the ovary on 
all sides. On this scale the ovary is sessile and surrounded by an in- 
volucrum, which he designates as a carpel. A difference only lies in the 
degree of the reversion, that is to say, in the thickness of the carpel (‘ Frucht- 
hiille ’). 
This difference is explained in the structure of the inflorescence. In 
Podocarpus there is more play for unrestricted development than in the 
Abietineae, where the cones exercise a restricting pressure. 
Braun, in 1869 ( 7 , p. 740), was the first to point out, from a study of 
an abnormal development of the leaves on a branch of P. chinensis , Wall., 
grown in the Botanic Garden in Berlin, that the so-called receptaculum 
(Endlicher) or discus (Hooker) of the Podocarps, described as the fusion 
of fleshy bracts with the axis, is in reality due to the swollen bases of those 
