PINACEAE 3 



When young Ginkgo biloba is a slender pyramidal tree. With age 

 under favorable conditions it may attain 30 m. or more in height and 



3 m. in diameter of trunk. Although generally regarded as native only 

 in China, Ginkgo biloba is not now certainly known to be aboriginal or 

 truly wild in any part of the country. It has been reported by Meyer 

 as growing spontaneously in Chekiang Province, where it was cut for 

 firewood, but others doubt it is truly spontaneous there. On account of 

 sentimental attachments, the tree is not often cut down, and the wood 

 therefore seldom finds its way in the market. The wood is soft, but 

 straight grained, light brownish in color with a silky sheen. It is used 

 for making abacus beads, seals and other small fancy articles. In Japan 

 it is extensively used for the ground work of the lacquer ware. The 

 Japanese use the leaves for fertilizer, especially in rice fields under water. 

 They ascribe to the leaves an insecticidal power. A leaf of the Ginkgo 

 used as a book-mark will keep away insects that attack books. 



PINACEAE 



Flowers monoecious, rarely dioecious; ovules 2 or more; fruit a 

 woody cone (berry-like in Juniperus) ; cotyledons 2 or more; leaves 

 needle-shaped, linear or scale-like, persistent (deciduous in Larix, 

 Pseudol'arix, Glyptostrobus) . 



The family includes 29 genera and about 215 species subdivided into 



4 tribes of which the Araucarineae tribe is alone unrepresented in China, 

 being confined mostly to the Southern hemisphere. 



16 genera occur in China. 



KEY TO THE CHINESE GENERA 



Abietineae. Leaves spirally arranged; ovuliferous bract and scale 

 always distinct; ovules 2, reversed; cone .scales usually with 2 winged 

 seeds; pollen grains winged; leaves needle-like. 



I. Leaves deciduous, fasciled or spirally arranged or both. 



A. Staminate inflorescence solitary, globose; cone scales persistent. 

 Larix. 



B. Staminate inflorescence clustered, stalked ; cone scales deciduous 

 at maturity Pseudolarix. 



