Pinus.] LXXVI. CONIFERS. 505 



Leaves persistent, numerous, in tufts at tlie ends of arrested 

 branchlets ; cones requiring 2 years to ripen, scales broad 



with a thin sharp edge 2. Cedrus. 



Leaves persistent, single, not in tufts ; cones ripening the 



same year ; scales with a thin sharp edge ... 3. Abies. 



Leaves deciduous, in tufts ; cones ripening the same year ; 



scales with a thin sharp edge 4. Larix. 



Fruit woody subglobose, with peltate scales, tightly closed 

 before maturity ; leaves persistent, closely adpressed, scale- 

 like and imbricate, or subulate 5. Cupressus. 



Fruit fleshy. 



Female catkins ovoid, of 3-6 coalescent scales, fleshy in fruit, 



ripening the second year forming a 1-3-seeded berry . 6. Juniperus. 

 Female flowers solitary, consisting of an erect ovule seated on 

 a fleshy disc, which enlarges into a fleshy cup surround- 

 ing the seed 7. Taxus. 



1. PINUS, Linn. 



Evergreen monoicous trees, the branches generally in whorls at the base 

 of each year's terminal shoot. Leaves on the first shoots of seedlings and 

 on elongating branchlets single, acicular subulate or squamiform, bearing 

 in their axils arrested branchlets, consisting of a short, tubercular axis, and 

 a number of membranous sheathing scales which surround a cluster of 2-5 

 acicular leaves. Axillary buds are as a rule only developed into elongated 

 branches at the end of each year's terminal shoot, one whorl of side branches 

 being formed annually, so that the age of a young tree may be ascertained, 

 not only by counting the annual rings of the wood, but also by the num- 

 ber of whorls on the stem. There are, however, exceptions : Pinus excelsa 

 and Pinaster often form two whorls in one season, and P. Gerardiana and 

 others are apt to throw out scattered side branches, not in regular whorls. 

 The male catkins are in the axils of membranous bracts, clustered round 

 the branch in a dense raceme at the base of the current year's shoot, so 

 that in those branches, which habitually bear male flowers, there are often 

 breaks in the foliage indicating the position of previous year's catkins. 

 Antheriferous scales numerous, imbricate, each scale with 2 distinct an- 

 ther-cells on its under surface, prolonged beyond them into a membranous 

 crest. Female flowers on separate branches, solitary or in whorls, gener- 

 ally at the end of the current year's shoot, subsessile or pedunculate, ped- 

 uncle with scaly bracts. Ovules inverted, in pairs at the base of the car- 

 pellary scales, each scale in the axil of a bract which disappears before the 

 fruit ripens. Cones sessile or stipitate, formed of the enlarged woody 

 carpellary scales, which are more or less thickened at the apex. Seeds 

 oily, with a hard woody testa, in shallow excavations at the base of the 

 scales, often winged. Cotyledons 3-12, linear. 



Leaves in clusters of three ; cones ovoid or ovoid-conical. 

 Sheathing scales persistent, fimbriate at the edges ; seeds 



with a large wing LP. longifolia. 



Sheathing scales deciduous ; seeds with a short caducous 



wing 2. P. Gerardiana. 



Leaves in clusters of five ; sheathing scales deciduous ; cones 



cylindric, scales not much thickened at the top . . 3. P. excelsa. 



