Classification of Plants 



241 



near the Thomas River, are thickly covered with wool. A 

 beetle belonging to a very ancient family, Phlseophagus by 

 name, frequents the cones and may assist in distributing pollen. 

 CoNiFER/E. — Unlike the Cycadacese, the Coniferae have 

 much-branched trunks and small simple leaves. 



Fig. 215. — Podocarpus elongata, L'Her. Outeniqua Yellow Wood . ( Phoio- 

 graph by Mr. Zahn Knysa.) 



Podocarpus, or Yellow Wood, is the monarch of the 

 eastern forests, attaining a height of 50 to 80 feet. 



The stamen-bearing catkins are about an inch in length. 

 The ovule flower is reduced to a single ovule borne upon a 

 scale. (There is a scale facing this one which sometimes bears 

 an ovule.) The cones are reduced to their lowest terms. 

 These fleshy scales form the receptacle for the drupe-like fruit 

 with its fleshy covering and hard middle layer of the coat. 



P. thunbergii, Hook, (true Yellow Wood) has lanceolate, shining 

 leaves and dark blue receptacles. 



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