142 Plant Life and Evolution 



Some conifers are quite adaptable, certain species 

 growing under very unfavorable conditions, like 

 the pines and firs of the alpine summits of the 

 Sierras and Rocky Mountains, or the barren slopes 

 overlooking the desert. A few species, like the 

 Monterey pine and cypress, grow where they are 

 exposed to the full force of the ocean winds. They 

 reach their finest development on the western 

 slopes of the great mountain chains bordering Pa- 

 cific North America, and are also highly developed 

 in the Manchurian and Japanese region on the other 

 side of the Pacific. The conditions of the Pacific 

 slope of North America seem to be better fitted for 

 the needs of the coniferous trees than those of any 

 other part of the world. A very temperate and uni- 

 form climate, with abundant moisture, especially to- 

 wards the north, perhaps represents to some extent 

 the climatic conditions of the later Mesozoic and 

 the earlier Tertiary, when the ancestors of the pres- 

 ent coniferous flora flourished; and the giants of the 

 vegetable kingdom have developed in these Pacific 

 forests. The mighty Sequoias, the last of their race, 

 tower above all the other trees of the forest; but 

 giant pines, firs, and cedars, which accompany them, 

 are unrivaled in size except by the Sequoias, and 

 make up a forest that is unequaled in all the world. 



That some of these conifers, like the Sequoias and 

 wild nutmegs of the California forest, or the cy- 

 presses of the southern swamps, were once wide- 

 spread trees is plainly shown by the fossil remains 



