208 ABIETINE^E. [part i. 



the Cypress ; Taxodium^ or Schuhertia, the 

 deciduous Cypress ; and Juniperus^ the Juniper. 

 The only needle-leaved trees belonging to 

 Taxinese belong to the genus Taxus, the Yew, 

 unless we separate from it the new genus 

 Torryea. 



§ 1. THE ABIETINE^.— THE PINE AND FIR TRIBE. 

 The plants included in this section, with the 

 exception of the Larch, are evergreens. They 

 are all lofty trees, with straight erect stems, 

 and their branches growing in whorls or tiers, 

 so as to produce a very peculiar and striking 

 effect. The male and female catkins are on the 

 same plant ; the female one containing two seeds 

 at the base of each scale. The pollen of the 

 male flowers is so abundant that any one pass- 

 ing through a grove of these trees in May or 

 June, might fancy it was raining brimstone. 

 Most of the species are timber trees, producing 

 the wood called deal ; that used for the flooring 

 and other parts of houses, being principally the 

 wood of the Scotch Pine, and the Norway 

 Spruce. Most of the species produce turpen- 

 tine, which is the thin part of the sap which 

 flows from the tree when a notch is cut in the 

 trunk ; the thick part of the sap when purified 

 by boiling is the yellow resin. Tar is produced 

 by cutting the roots and wood of pine and fir 



