8 



FAMILIES OK FLOWERING PLANTS. 



ORDER CONIFERAE. 



We have now reached the largest and by far the most important 

 group among the Gymnosperms, comprising as it does, some of the most 

 vahiable timber trees in the world. In referring to the pines, spruces 

 and junipers of our northern forests the average individual is apt to use 

 the terms "evergreen" and "coniferous' ' j-omewhat loosely and inter- 

 changeably. An evergreen plant is merely one which retains its foliage 

 until after the new growth has begun to develop. A conifer, on the 

 other hand, is a plant belonging to the order Coniferae, and so named 

 on account of the characteristic fruit; thus while most conifers are 

 evergreen and a large part of our evergreens in temperate climates are 

 conifers, it will be seen that the two terms are not synonymous. This 

 cone-fruit varies greatly in size, shape and structure in difterent genera, 

 and there is even great diversity among the species of a single genus, 

 as will be seen on reference to Fig. 5, which represents the cones of 



Fig. 5.— Cones. Beginning at the left. Coulter's pine, Western white 

 pine. Eastern white pine. Knob-cone pine, Foxtail pine, Pitch pine. 

 Lodge-pole pine. Red fir. Short-leaf pine, Eastern hemlock, and Eastern 

 arbor-vitae. (After Pinchot. Bull. 24. Div. of Forestry, U. S Dep'tof 

 Agric). 



several pines. A cone consists of a central axis bearing adjoining or 

 overlapping scales, which may be hard and woody or fleshy in texture. 

 The male flowers of conifers usually resemble catkins in appearance; 

 they consist of scalelike leaves or bracts bearing the pollen-sacs be- 

 neath. The ovules are likewise borne on or within the scales of the 

 cone, and ripen into nutlike fruits. The wood structure in the conifers 

 is of interest to the student of plant anatomy, the wood being uniform 



