108 FAMILIAR TREES 



sideways, as to give a somewhat flattened appearance 

 to the individual sprays, though not so regular as 

 those of the Yew. 



Individually the leaves are four-edged, and narrow 

 to a slight petiole which is inserted on a prominent 

 angular pulvinus. There are fine lines of stomata 

 along all the sides of the leaf ; the hypoderm is only 

 a single layer of small polygonal cells with thickened 

 walls; and the thick mesophyll is made up of irre- 

 gularly polygonal thin- walled cells. There is only a 

 single vascular bundle in the midrib, and generally 

 one resin-canal near the under surface. 



The pollen-bearing catkins are produced near the 

 apex of the lateral shoots, generally several together, 

 on stalks, which elongate considerably. They are of 

 a yellowish colour, tipped with red, and cylindrical 

 in form, becoming ultimately curved, and as much 

 as an inch in length ; but in their earlier stages they 

 have been compared to half-ripe strawberries. 



The cones are borne mainly at the ends of the 

 upper branches, and in the flower stage stand erect, 

 and vary in colour, according to soil or situation, from 

 green or yellow to pink, dark red, or purple. After 

 fertilisation they become pendent and green, taking the 

 form of a pointed cylinder, from five to seven inches 

 long and from an inch and a half to two inches 

 broad. Their scales are thin, with their edges slightly 

 curved inwards and notched at the top. There are 

 from 160 to 180 of them in each cone ; and as each 

 bears two seeds at the base of its inner surface, an 

 ordinary cone may yield from 300 to 350 seeds. In 

 autumn the cones ripen to a rich and glossy brown 



