226 



GYM NOS PERMS 



of 3 meters, with a rhizome about 15 mm. in (Hameter; but in rocky, 

 wind-swept places the leaf is reduced to 1 5 cm. However, these dwarf 

 ferns may have rhizomes 25 mm. in diameter. That the dwarfed 

 condition is not due entirely to wind and weather is shown by the 

 fact that the Japanese keep Pinus tJiunhcrgia in large vases for a 

 couple of hundred years, although the species, in nature, is a large 

 tree. 



Fig. 240. — Agathis atistralis: the "Kauri" of New Zealand. From a photograph by 

 Jones and Coleman. 



TAXONOMY 



In such a large assemblage, with so many living representatives, 

 it is convenient, for the sake of ready reference, to have its various 

 genera distributed into groups along lines as nearly genetic as pos- 

 sible. The morphologist is not Hkely to know as much about techni- 

 cal taxonomy as he should, and, perhaps, for that reason, is not 

 deeply interested in tribes, sub-tribes, sub-genera, sub-species, 

 varieties, and forms. So we shall simply use the name "family" 

 for a group of genera which seem to belong together. 



The list below does not include all the described genera. The 

 discovery of a really new genus is important; but a new genus made 

 by making two from one already known, is not so interesting. 



The following list is based upon Eichler's'^^ account in Die 



