ARRANGEMENT OF THE FLOWERS. 41 



lateral or terminal on very short lateral branches. In the Taxodinete 

 both positions occur; terminal in Sequoia, Sciaclopitys, Taxodium and 

 Athrotaxis ; lateral in Cryptomeria. In Araucaria both kinds are 

 lateral, or terminal on short lateral branchlets ; in Cunninghamia both 

 kinds are apparently terminal. Throughout the Abietineae, except in 

 Cedrus, and there perhaps only pseudo-terminal, the staminate flowers 

 are lateral ; the cones are lateral in Picea, Abies, Larix and Pinus ; 

 and mostly terminal on short lateral branches in Tsuga, Abietia and 

 Cedrus. 



The staminate flowers are, probably without exception, far more 

 numerous than the seminiferous ones. The reason of this is manifest : 

 the agency by which the pollen is conveyed to the ovules is the wind ; 

 but the wind being an uncertain mode of transport, it is of great 

 consequence that the pollen should be produced in such quantities 

 as to admit of its being disseminated as thoroughly as possible to 

 ensure the pollination of the ovules. Throughout the Abietineae 

 and Araucarineae the production of pollen is very abundant, and 

 occasionally even surprisingly great, of which instances will presently be 

 adduced. 



With respect to arrangement and form, the staminate flowers are 

 capitate (collected into small heads) in Taxus, Torreya and Cephalo- 

 taxus; solitary in the CupressinetTe, Sequoia, Athrotaxis, Araucaria, 

 Cedrus and others ; umbellate in Ginkgo, Sciaclopitys and Laricopsis ; 

 paniculate in Taxodium ; occasionally spicate in Pinus ; often crowded in 

 Abies ; sessile and dispersed in Larix. The ovuliferous flowers are 

 solitary or clustered, but rarely in large numbers ; frequent instances 

 occur in Pinus in which pseudo-whorls of three, five, or more are 

 common as in P. Pinaster, P. muricata, P. radiata, P. tuber culata and 

 others; and in Cephalotaxus they are sometimes clustered on axillary 

 peduncles. 



Being destitute of calyx and corolla, the flowers of coniferous plants 

 are also wanting in the brilliant hues that distinguish the flowers of most 

 of the higher orders. Nevertheless there are some species which have the 

 connective or exposed part of the anthers of the staminate flowers highly 

 coloured ; in Pinus pondevosa the flowers are bright red, and being pro- 

 duced in large clusters are very conspicuous; in P. Laricio and its allies 

 they are yellow ; in P. excelsa, purple ; in Abies Pinsapo, rose-purple ; 

 in A. arttabilis, coral-red ; in A. nobilis, violet-crimson ; in Cupressus 

 Laicsoniana, crimson ; in the Chinese Juniper, the Thuias and most of the 

 Cupressinese they are yellow. Xor are the young seminiferous cones 

 always destitute of a pleasing colour as in the common Larch and Douglas 

 Fir, in which the scales are a soft pink and in the Siberian Larch dark 

 purple before pollination. The quantity of pollen produced by the 

 staminate flowers of a single tree is often surprisingly great; a puff of 

 wind has been observed to scatter the pollen of an Araucaria imbricata 

 like a cloud of dust ; the surface of the ground beneath a Spruce Fir that 

 lias shed its pollen is made quite yellow with fine dust; and in Pine 

 and Fir forests the quantity of pollen is sometimes such as to produce 



