CHAPTER XV. 



THE PINE AND OTHER CONIFERS, ALPINE PLANTS, 

 AND THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH FLORA. 



The Coniferae, as has been shown in Chapter XIV., 

 are a very ancient group of plants. In most respects 

 their structure is much less specialised than that of the 

 Dicotyledons or Monocotyledons. The foliage especially 

 is of a much lower type. In almost all the Conifers 

 the leaves are either very small, somewhat like those of 

 the Clubmosses or Lepidodendra in external characters, 

 or they are needle-shaped like those of the great genus 

 Pinus. Very few are deciduous, though the Larch, one 

 of our commonest species, sheds its leaves in autumn. 

 The branching is generally very regular and of a 

 monotonous character, markedly different from that of 

 other trees, in which there is a much greater power of 

 adaptation to unforeseen circumstances. 



For example, the annual shoot or year's growth of the 

 Scotch Fir {Pinus silvestris) consists of a branch several 

 inches in length, wdth numerous little branchlets, or rough 

 tubercles, along it. Each of these carries two green 

 needles, and there are generally from one to three buds 

 at the end. If these buds are dissected it is found that 

 they contain the rudiments of the next year's shoot. 

 The bud is wrapped in a series of brow^n resinous scales 

 which entirely cover it, and within these scales there 

 are a series of miniature buds, each wrapped in a few 



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