52.S 



BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT 



branches are borne at intervals upon it, which take a more or less 

 flattened form ; and as they do not grow so strongly as the main 

 stem the result is the pyramidal habit so well seen in the Christmas 



Fig. 416. 



Branch-end of Pinus nigra (Arnold) bearing laterally two shoots of un- 

 limited growth, and a cone replacing a third one. Each is covered by numerous 

 "foliage-spurs" bearing two "needles." At the base of the figure these are fully 

 developed; above they are half-grown, the shoot having been cut in spring. Two 

 young female cones ($), at the distal end, are at the period of pollination. (After 

 Groom.) 



Tree (Picea), and in the young Scots Pine. Sometimes this habit is 

 maintained throughout life ; but often, as in the Scots Pine, the form 

 becomes irregular as the tree grows older. The Coniferae are as a 

 rule closely gregarious, and they then form very exclusive forests. 

 The lower branches die off in the crowded woods, giving the clean 



