THE CONE-BEARING PLANTS 1138 
and see how they rank in this respect. Upon the whole 
they are very insignificant. The tassels and cones form a 
fairly conspicuous group, but the individual flowers are of 
little account. The calyx and corolla, upon which we 
usually have to depend for showy colour, are not yet in 
evidence, but the “bracts” are of great importance, for 
they form the scales of the cone, behind which, as one 
peels them off from the branch, one sees the embryo seeds 
and the inconspicuous pistil, or carpellary leaf. 
Quite apart from their flowering arrangements, the 
conifers are a very well-defined group, and one can recog- 
nise them almost invariably with very little trouble. 
The majority are evergreen, that is to say, their leaves 
last for more than one year, and this alone renders 
several of them conspicuous in an English winter; and 
all have a characteristic tendency to put out their 
branches in whorls, or circles, around a tall and taper- 
ing trunk, though this is better marked in some groups, 
eg. the Spruces, than in others, eg. the Juniper. Above 
all, they are distinguished by the peculiar shape of the 
leaves, which are well known as pine or fir “needles,” 
and which, when fallen, form dense carpets beneath the 
trees. The tree trunk grows in the same way as do those 
of the Dicotyledons, namely, by the formation of a 
“cambium ring.” (See Chapter III.) The fibro-vascular 
bundles are “open,” and the trunk thickens uniformly. 
In this particular they come close to the highest and 
latest group of plants, but, on the other hand, the remote 
ages to which we can trace their fossil remains, and the 
resemblance to the Club-mosses and Horse-tails in their 
flowering methods, indicate that they are the most ancient 
form of flowering plants, and, as such, come first for 
examination. 
I 
