ENDOGENOUS OR MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 477 



895. It is unnecessary to specify the important uses of this large 

 and characteristic family, which comprises the most important tim- 

 ber-trees of cold countries, and also furnishes resinous products of 

 great importance, such as turpentine, resin, pitch, tar, Canada bal- 

 sam (obtained from the Balsam Fir), &c. The terebinthine Juni- 

 per-berries are the fruit of Juniperus communis. The Larch yields 



Venetian turpentine. The powerful and rubefacient Oil of Savin 

 is derived from J. Sabina of Europe : for which our J. Virgin- 

 iana (Red Cedar) may be substituted. The leaves of the Yew are 

 narcotic and deleterious. The bark of Hemlock and Larch is used 

 for tanning. 



896. Ord, Cycadaees (the Cycas Family}. Tropical plants, with 

 an unbranched cylindrical trunk, increasing, like Palms, by a sin- 

 gle terminal bud ; the leaves pinnate and their segments rolled up 

 from the apex (circinate) in vernation, in the manner of true Ferns. 

 Flowers dioecious ; the staminate in a strobile or cone ; the pistil- 

 late also in strobiles, or else (in Cycas) occupying contracted and 

 partly metamorphosed leaves ; the naked ovules borne on its mar- 

 gins. Ex. Cycas, Zamia, the dwarf Florida species of which is 

 illustrated in Fig. 403-409, p. 308. A kind of Arrowroot is 

 obtained from these thickened stems ; and a sort of Sago from the 

 trunk of Cycas. 



Class II. ENDOGENOUS OR MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



897. Stem not distinguishable into bark, pith, and wood ; but the 

 latter consisting of bundles of fibres and vessels irregularly imbed- 

 ded in cellular tissue ; the rind firmly adherent ; no medullary 

 rays, and no appearance of concentric layers : increase in diame- 

 ter effected by the deposition of new fibrous bundles, which, at 

 their commencement at least, occupy the central part of the stem. 

 Leaves seldom falling off by an articulation, commonly sheathing 

 at the base, usually alternate, entire, and with simple parallel 

 veins (nerved). Floral envelopes when present mostly in threes; 

 the calyx and corolla frequently undistinguishable in texture and 

 appearance. Embryo with a single cotyledon ; or if the second 

 is present, it is much smaller than the other and alternate with 

 it (634). 



