Gymnospermae 



Seed-bearing plants without closed pistils, ovules and seeds exposed, 

 or protected by the separate but overlapping scales on which they are 

 borne ; pollen grains entering the micropyle of the ovule and germinating 

 within the developing seed ; the body of the seed formed by the female 

 gametophyte, developed previous to the fertilization of the egg and the 

 development of the embryo. • 



Coniferales Pine Order 

 Pinaceae Pine Family 



Trees or rarely shrubs ; leaves needle- or scale-like, usually evergreen ; 

 flowers monoecious or dioecious, cone-like, the staminate consisting of a 

 more or less elongated axis which bears numerous usually scale-like 

 stamens, each of which bears 2-40 pollen sacs or sporangia, the pistillate 

 more complex in structure, varying in the several tribes (see below), the 

 ovules and seeds not in a closed ovary but sheltered and concealed be- 

 tween the scales of the pistillate cone. 



Leaves, bark and wood containing much oleoresin which is often of 

 commercial importance. 



An ancient family of trees, at one time forming the dominant vegeta- 

 tion of the earth, and still forming great forests in the temperate regions 

 of both the northern and the southern hemispheres. 



KEY TO THE TRIBES 



1. Leaves linear, needle-like, alternate or in fas- 



cicles Abietineae 



2. Leaves often scale-like, opposite or in whorls Cupressineae 



Abietineae Fir Tribe 



Leaves and cone-scales primarily alternate — the foliage leaves may be 

 in dense clusters or fascicles which are however always arranged on the 

 branches in an alternate spiral fashion, foliage leaves linear, needle-like 

 or flattened, never scale-like ; stamens with two pollen sacs, pistillate cones 

 with two distinct kinds of scales, the bracts or sterile scales and the seed- 

 bearing scales, one of which is borne in the axil of each bract, each 

 seed-bearing scale bearing two inverted seeds on its upper side. 



