Postelsia 151 
without a fleshy outer covering, concealed be- 
tween the scales of the woody, fleshy or berry- 
like cone. 
A family comprising about twenty-five genera 
and three hundred species, most abundant in 
temperate regions. Four sub-families are rec- 
ognized: the Araucariee, trees of the southern 
hemisphere, the Taxozdee@, trees of southern and 
south-western North America, southeastern Asia 
and Tasmania, and the two sub-families, A bze- 
tinee and Cupressinee described below. 
SUB-FAMILY ABIETINEE 
Leaves spirally arranged. Pistillate cones with 
two kinds of scales, borne in pairs, spirally ar- 
ranged upon the axis, each pair consisting of a 
carpel or bract scale (Commonly referred to as 
the bract), bearing in its axil the usually larger 
placental scale (commonly referred to as the 
scale) which in turn bears two inverted ovules 
on its upper side. 
Trees with linear or acicular foliage leaves, 
“needles”, which may be obviously spiral in 
their arrangement, or may be apparently two- 
ranked as a result of the twisting of the petioles, 
