668 UTILIZATION OF THE FRUITS OF FOREST TREES. 



scales open in dry weather, and the small brown seeds escape ; 

 the seed lying in a spoon-like depression of the wing is fugitive. 

 The seeds of Silver-firs (Abies) and of Cedars (Cedrus) are 

 free, as the upright cone breaks in pieces when ripe ; the seed 

 has a wing that is fixed to it firmly. 



The seed of Douglas fir (Pseudotsugd) resembles that of 

 spruce in its mode of formation and escape from the cone ; 

 it is fixed firmly to the wing, as in silver-fir. Larch seed 

 (Larix) is formed in upright cones, so that when the latter 

 are dry and open, the seed cannot escape by its own weight ; 

 a continued exposure to wind and rain, as well as to strong 



Winsred seeds. 



1. Silver-fir. 



Seeds prepared for sale. 

 Fig. 360. 



2. Scotch pine. 3. Larch. 



(Drawn by R. S. Troup.) 



4. Spruce. 



gales, is required, in order to set it free from the cone 

 (Weise), the little seed is attached firmly to its wing. In 

 Pines (Pinus), cones of the section Pinaster open their scales 

 a few months after ripening, in order to set free the seeds, 

 which are encircled loosely by the lower ends of their wings. 

 Pines of the section Strobus, Weymouth pines, possess a seed 

 that is attached to the wing on one side only ; Cembran Pines 

 have only a stump of a wing on their seeds, which therefore 

 is not fugitive; [the seeds of Pinus Pinea, Gemtooides, eduUs, 

 Monopliylla and Gerardiana are large and edible. Tr.] ; in 

 all pines the seed ripens in the year after the flowering. 



