492 



BOTANY 



inverted ovules. The genera Araucaria and Agatliis Sequoia and 

 Sdadopitys Abies, Picea, Larix, and Pinus, may be distributed in 

 three distinct groups which may be named Araucarieae, Sequoieae, 

 and Abietineae, in the narrow sense. 



Sub-family Cupressineae. Some of the Cupressineae have needle-shaped 

 leaves in whorls (Juniper, Fig. 458), others have decussately arranged, scale-like 

 leaves (Thuja, Juniper UK siilinn. Fig. 459). 'The former type is to be regarded as 



FIG. 458. Juniperus cum muni*. T\vij;.s bearing fruits and male flowers. (3 nat. size.) Of'f'li /.</.. 



tlie more primitive, for the seedlings ol Thuja have needle-shaped leaves, and 

 individual branches of scale-leaved forms of Juniperus revert to the needle-shaped 

 leaves in whorls of three. The short shoots of Taxodium have two ranks of leaves 

 and are shed as a whole. 



The Cupressinae, with the exception of Juniperus, are monoecious. The male 

 flowers of Juniperus communis stand in the leaf axils. At their base are a number 

 of small scale-leaves (Fig. 460 a, a), above which come several whorls of peltate 

 sporophylls (c) bearing 2-4 microsporangia (d) on the lower surface. The sporangia 

 open by a vertical slit parallel to the long axis of the sporophyll. The female 

 flower.- occupy a corresponding position. The scale leaves at the base (Fig. 460 b) 

 are succeeded by a whorl of carpels (c, b), each of which bears a single upright ovule 

 in a median position (c). After fertilisation a succulent parenchymatous growth 

 mainly of the basal portions of the sporophylls raises the seeds and presses them 

 together, without, however, obliterating the central spaee altogether. The three 



