SECT. II 



PHANEROGAMIA 



537 



traced in the series of tlie Araucarieae and Abietineae, is that supported by Sachs, 

 EiCHLER, and Goebel. Attention must be drawn, however, to an alternative view 

 supported by Stiiasburger and Celakovsky among others. According to this 

 the ovuliferous scale corresponds to the coherent bracteoles of an axillary shoot 

 borne in the axil of the bract scale. The cone itself would thus not correspond to 

 a single flower bearing a number of sporophylls, but to a system of shoots, i.e. it 

 would be an inflorescence. 



Most important Genera and Species.— .-if/ft^/rt's (Dammara) is distributed in 



Fir;. o(}9.—Picea exceha (h iiat. size). 1, Twig with male flowers. J, Terminal female flower. 3, 

 Pendulous cone. /,, Jlicrosporophyll. .5, Macrosporopliyll ; the bract-scale is covered by the 

 large, bent-back, ovuliferous scale; an ovule is visible at the base of the ovuliferous scale- 

 6, Ripe seed with the wing formed by a detached portion of the ovuliferous scale, (x 4-6.) 



the Malayan Archipelago and extends to New Zealand ; A. australis and A. 

 Dammara yield Kauri Copal but no Dammar Resin ; Araucaria hrasiliana and A. 

 imhricata are stately, S. American, forest trees ; A. exceha, A. CooJcn, and other 

 species with very limited distribution are extensively cultivated as ornamental 

 trees. The genus Seq^ioia includes the most gigantic trees known ; specimens of 

 S. (jigantca from the Californian Sierra Nevada attain a height of 100 m. and 

 a diameter of 12 ni. ; tlie main locality of these trees has recently been injured 

 by fire. 



The Silver Fir {Ahies 'pectinatu, Fig. 508) is a native of the mountains of the 

 middle and south of Europe. It bears only long shoots. The flat, needle-like 



