CLASS II. GYMNOSPERMS. 



Ovules not enclosed in an ovary, fertilized by the pollen without 

 the intervention of a pistil, and becoming truly naked seeds, the 

 carpel being represented by a flat open scale or entirely wanting. 

 EivuiRYo with 2 opposite, or several whorled cotyledons. 



Order CXXXI. CONIFERiE.— Conifers. 



Tyeesoreverpreen shrubs, with branching trunks, abounding in a resinous juice. 



LV8. scattered or fascicled, linear or acerose (rarely lanceolate), parallel-veined, rigid, generally evergreen. 



Fta. moncpcious or dKicious, destitute of calyx or corolla. 



Sterile, monandrous or ni()iia<l(li)hou.s, collected in a kind of loose ament. 



Antfi. 2 or many-lolted, often tipiied with a crest. Pollen large, usually compound. 



Fertile, in aments composed of ojien, scale-like carpels, or solitary and without a carpel. 



Ovari/, style and stis-tiia wanting. Ovules l, 2 or many, erect or inverted. 



F/-.— A strobile (cone), or a solitary seed. Integuments hard and crustaceous. 



Embryo in the axis of oily albumen. 



Genera 29, species 150, natives of all climates, but most abundant in the temperate zones, those of the 

 southern, however, very difterent from the pines, spruces, larches and cedars of the northern. 



Properties.— Few orders can be named, which are of more importance to mankind, whether in refer- 

 ence to their invaluable timber or their resinous secretions. Turpentine,, tar, pitch and resin are the 

 product of the pines. Burgundy pitch is yielded by Finus sylvestris of Europe; Venetian turpentine, 

 by the Larix ; oil of Savin by Juniperus Sabina of Europe, &c. 



FIG. 54.— 1. Branch of Thuja occidentals, with strobiles. 2. A magnified branchlet with a cone of 

 staminate flowers. 3. A carpeliary scale with the two winged seeds. 4. A vertical transverse section 

 of one of the seeds, showing the embrvo, &c. 5. The immature, erect ovules. 6. One of the ovules, 

 enlarged, showing the micropyle at top. 7. Branch of Abies Americana. 8. Scale, with the i)ract. 9. 

 Scale with immature ovules. 10. Scale with ripe seeds. 11. A pair of leaves of Pinus resinosa. 12. 

 Anther of Pinus .sylvestris. 13. Scale of the cone, with the ovules turned downwards. 14. Staminate 

 scale of Cupressus, with nollen. !.'>. Fertile senile, with many erect ovules. 



