Taxus masonii
Taxus masonii Temporal range:
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Gymnospermae |
Division: | Pinophyta |
Class: | Pinopsida |
Order: | Cupressales
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Family: | Taxaceae |
Genus: | Taxus |
Species: | †T. masonii
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Binomial name | |
†Taxus masonii Manchester
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Taxus masonii is an
History and classification
Taxus masonii has been identified from a single location in the
The species was described from a series of
The Taxus masonii specimens were studied by
Description
The seeds of Taxus masonii are rounded and bilaterally symmetrical with a pointed tip. The seeds have an overall length ranging between 4.3–6.2 millimetres (0.17–0.24 in) and a width between 4.5–5.6 centimetres (1.8–2.2 in).[1] The seeds are identified as from a Taxus species by the exterior morphology and by the structure of the vascular supply system. The overall cross section shape is lensoid, with a truncate base where an aril would have attached, a keeled apex, and a pair of vascular scars near the base. The vascular supply consists of two vascular strands that extend from the vascular scars near the base along the seeds upper and lower surfaces to points approximately one third of the way towards the apex. The strands then pass into the seed cavity.[1]