CONIFERAE: THE SCOTS PINE 5: 



trunks without knots that arc specially valued as timber, and supply 

 naturally-formed masts, spars, and telegraph-pol< 



The Scots Pine, like most of the family, is chara< d by lea 



of relatively small size, simple form and stiff texture. These are 

 xerophytic features, and are well illustrated by the " needles " of the 

 Pine. Their structure, with sunken stomata, a well-developed 

 cuticle, and a large proportion of bulk to surface bears this out. 

 Hairs are absent from their smooth surfaces. 



In some of the Coniferae the vegetative leaves are all of essentially the same 

 type, as in the Juniper. But in the Scots Pine some of them are developed 

 as protective scales, others as green foliage leaves, and the mutual arrangement 

 of these two types is very characteristic. It is closely connected with the 

 fact that all the axillary buds do not develop alike. Those at the end of the 

 annual increment of growth are unlimited, and form the radiating group of 

 branches of each successive year already noted. Those lower down develop 

 only as limited foliage spurs, which remain short, bearing only a few mem- 

 branous scales, and distally a few long green " needles " (Fig. 416). In the 

 seedling plant green foliage leaves may follow the cotyledons on the main 

 axis. But in the later stages the main axis and the woody branches bear only 

 scale-leaves, while the green needles are always borne on the foliage-spurs. In 

 the different species of Pinns the number of needles on each spur varies : in 

 P. monophylla it may be only one. The Coniferae are mostly evergreens like 

 the Scots Pine, Yew, and Juniper. But some, like the Larch, shed their 

 leaves in autumn, or even their short leafy shoots, as in Taxodium. 



The root-system starts in all cases with a tap-root ; but it seldom 

 maintains its lead. Lateral roots arise from it, and they form the chief 

 attachment of the mature tree, which is often shallow-rooted. Some 

 of them, as in the Scots Pine, are mycorrhizic, the roots being invested 

 by a fungal felt, which acts as an intermediary between the root and 

 the soil (p. 228). But as seedlings can be raised in pure cultures with- 

 out the fungus, its presence, however advantageous, is not necessary. 



The external characters of the Coniferae thus briefly sketched 

 stamp the appearance of most of them. The general plan of their 

 Plant-body or sporophyte is the same as that seen in Angiosperms. 

 It is the working out of the details that gives the special characl 

 of the Coniferae. Their habit is easily distinguished from that 

 of the broad-leaved Dicotyledons, and still more easily from the 

 Palms and other large Monocotyledons. A feature which has its 

 bearing upon the habit and spread of the family is the rarity of 

 vegetative propagation. In Nature it hardly ever occurs, and the 

 forester finds it impracticabl<\ Virtually all individuals arc raised 

 from seed. This is in marked contrast to the An-iospcrms. 



