THE PINE AND YELLOW WOOD FAMILY. 245 



Conifer 88. 

 The Pixe and Yellow-wood Family. 



Pi'nus. — This genus has 70 species dispersed over 

 the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere. Two 

 are now abundant on the north side of Table Mountain, 

 etc., making woods of some extent. These are P. 

 'pin'ea, the '' Stone Pine/' a native of the Mediterranean 

 regions of South Europe, and P. pinas'ter, the " Cluster 

 Pine," a native of the south-west of Europe. The only- 

 species native in Great Britain is P. fiylves'tris, the 

 '' Scotch Fir." 



The fruit of all these are cones (Fig. 96, VI.), hence 

 the name " conifers," or cone-bearers. They are borne 

 in abundance by the trees in Cape Colony. 



The illustrations (Fig. 96, 1., II.) represent the male 

 and female inflorescences from the same tree, as pines 

 are monoecious. The former consist of a dense cluster 

 of little oval catkins, arranged all round a shoot, which 

 continues to grow at the top. Each of the catkins 

 consists of stamens (III.) spirally arranged around it. 

 The pollen grain is of a peculiar shape (IV.), as it has 

 two pouches, one on either side ; their use is not known. 

 The little female catkins (II.), which develop into cones, 

 consist of a number of female flowers also arranged 

 spirally. Each flower consists of a roundish bract 

 or scale with another, the ovuliferous scale, in front of 



