lOO 
Agnes Robertson. 
of higher order, exactly recalls the arrangement described by 
Renault (3) for Cordaianthus, the female “ flower ” of the palaeozoic 
Gymnosperm Cordaites (Pig. 3). Taxus is somewhat reduced from 
this type, in that the growing point of the primary shoot aborts 
after producing a certain number of sterile bracts, and either one or 
two ovule-bearing axes, whereas in Cordaites it produces, besides 
sterile bracts, several ovuliferous secondary axes, and then (instead 
of being reduced to a little barren cone) continues its growth and 
produces some more leaves, Fig. 3 (see also Renault 3, PI. *XV> 
Figs 1 and 3). 
The morphology of the male “ flower ” of Cordaites is obscure, but 
it seems clear that the pollen-sacs were borne in an erect tuft at 
the end of a slender pedicel. The pollen-sacs of Taxus on the 
contrary are pendulous, but they resemble those of Cordaites 
(Renault 3, PI. XIV., Fig 2), and differ from those of all other 
Gymnosperms in their radial symmetry with respect to the pedicel 
that bears them. 
There seems to be no doubt that Cordaites was descended from 
ancestors belonging to the Fern-Cycad alliance. We have 
anatomical evidence for this in the structure of the stems of Pitys, 
a tree from the lower Carboniferous. Dr. Scott (11) regards 
it as a primitive member of the Cordaitean family, but with 
mesarch strands of primary xylem. In Dr. Scott’s words, “ The 
Pitys trees appear to afford a new link, as far as stem structure 
is concerned, between the Cycadofilices of the family Lyginodendreae 
and the true Cordaiteae.” The seeds of Cordaites are said to “ shew 
a marked parallelism with the ovules of recent Cycads.” (Oliver 14). 
Between the dying out of Cordaites at the top of the Palaeozoic 
and the appearance of the Taxaceae in the Cretaceous, there is a 
considerable gap in point of time, which may conceivably be 
bridged later on by the discovery of intermediate types. 
Conclusion. 
The evidence which we have been considering seems to point 
to the conclusion that the Taxoideae are a group retaining many 
relatively primitive characters, though considerably specialised 
along their own lines. Phylogenetically they may be regarded as 
an offshoot from the Cordaitean stock, which is itself a branch of 
the Cycadofilicinean plexus. This descent is indicated by the 
marked resemblance of Cephalotaxus to Ginkgo, and of Taxus to 
Cordaianthus. 
The relation between Cephalotaxus and Ginkgo has long been 
