Reproductive S true Hires in the Podocarpineae . 49 
thus inversely oriented, depart into the base of the epimatium (Diagram 5, 
C and d). The two component parts of this strand soon separate and 
diverge considerably as they proceed up the dorsal face of the ovule 
(Diagram 5, E). At the chalaza each sends down a small concentric bundle 
into the base of the ovule (Fig. 22 ; and Diagram 5, f ) and then dies out. 
The nucellus is entirely free from the integument, as is the integument from 
the epimatium (Diagram 5, A). The latter is strongly ribbed and well 
provided with large sac-like canals. It ripens dry and hard, save for 
a thickened corky ring at the micropylar end, which acts as an absciss 
layer. 
Diagram 6. Dacrydium cupressinum . a, vertical section through strobilus; b-e, successive 
transverse sections from axis to ovule. 
Dacrydium Bidwillii , from its close resemblance in strobilar anatomy 
to Podocarpus , may therefore well be considered an intermediate form 
between the latter genus and the other members of Dacrydium. 
The rest of the genus Dacrydium show a similarly reduced condition of 
the cone, with a few sterile bracts at the base and a few fertile ones above. The 
young ovules, which were examined only in D. Colensoi and D. intermedium , 
are distinctly inverted, and the epimatium, with a knob or knee at its 
chalazal end just as in most species of Podocarpus , is entirely free from the 
integument, but at an early stage encloses it completely (Fig. 23). In sub- 
sequent growth, however, the outer coat is outstripped by the rest of the 
E 
