The Anatomy of Saxegothaea conspicua, Lindl. 217 
parenchyma on either side of the xylem and on the upper side of 
the scale (Fig. 32). They increase greatly in number towards the 
tip and no doubt constitute a large development of centripetal 
xylem. In longitudinal section they appear as short reticulately 
thickened elements, and are apparently of the nature of typical 
transfusion tissue (Fig. 33). 
Meanwhile the bundles in the upper row, besides increasing in 
number by the additions from the lower row, become more numerous 
by division of one or both members of the original pair, and by fresh 
bundles arising in, or at the end of, the row. Their xylem consists 
almost wholly, or wholly, of centripetal wood. As the bundles increase 
in number, so in a similar way they diminish, by the fusion of two or 
more bundles, and by the dying out of others. Occasionally bundles 
occur ending blindly in both directions. The remaining bundles, 
about three in number, bend round to, and enter the sporangium, 
and in so doing follow a semi-circular course (Fig. 346). 
Fig. 34. Diagram shewing the course of the bundles in the female sporophyll 
as seen in median longitudinal section. b, bundle serving the 
sporangium. 
There can be little doubt that the female organ of Saxegothaea 
resembles those of the Araucarieae more closely than it resembles 
those of other Conifers. The only other plants it shews close 
relationships with are the remaining Podocarpeae. In the first 
place it agrees with the Araucarieae in having its megasporophylls 
arranged in a cone, and in both Saxegothaea and Araucaria Rulei 
there is a gradual transition from the foliage leaves to the cone- 
scales. The method of branching of the vascular bundles in 
Araucaria Cookei 1 and A. Rulei 2 is in the main very similar to that 
of Saxegothaea, the chief differences being that, firstly, in the latter 
the scale-trace bundle does not branch until it enters the tissues of 
1 Worsdell, W. C. (31), p. 527. 
2 Seward, A. C. and Ford, Miss S. O. (27), p. 361. 
