292 



THE KINDS OF PLANTS 



AA. PHENOGAMS: GYNOSPERMS. 



II. CONIFERyE. Cone-bearing or Pine Family. 



Woody plants, mostly trees, with resinous sap and stiff needle- 

 shaped or scale-like, mostly evergreen leaves: plants bearing no 

 ovaries, the ovules lying naked and receiving the pollen directly: 

 flowers diclinous (usually monoecious), generally in scaly catkins, 

 those catkins bearing the pistillate flowers maturing into cones but 

 sometimes becoming berry-like (as in junipers). Above 300 species, 

 one-third of which inhabit North America: particularly abundant in 

 elevated and mountainous regions. 



a. Cone dry, with overlapping scales. 



B. Scales many and cones 1 in. or more long. 



C. Leaves long and needle-like, in sheaths or bundles of 



2 to 5, persistent 1. Pinus 



cc. Leaves short, scattered, persistent. 



D. In cross-section, Ivs. 4-sided : sessile 2. Picea 



DD. In cross-section, Ivs. flat: short-petioled 3. Tsitga 



ccc. Leaves short but very slender, in clusters, deciduous. 4. Larix 



BB. Scales few (3-12), the cones about }4 in. long 5. Thuja 



AA. Cone modified into a fleshy, berry-like body 6. Juniperus 



1. PlNUS. Pine. 



Trees with long, persistent, needle-shaped, angled leaves, in bundles of 

 2 to 5, and with scale-like deciduous leaves on the young branchlets-. sterile 

 catkins usually borne at the base of the 



new shoot: fertile cones maturing the v\'V/' '/ '^^^^ 



second year, often hanging on the tree \ \\\ j CJ 'i h; fW^ ^ 



for years: cotyledons several. ■^^0!^\^\ f'n'y^-^ ^" 



P. Strdbus, Linn. WJiite pine. Figs. ^^'^s^ '^ //.«? 



145, 272. Large forest tree, much used ^\A I 



for lumber : leaves long and soft, light 

 green, in 5's: cones long and symmetri- 

 cal, with thin-edged scales, terminal on ^!'^^j^l(^'^''^^^y^ ^. -^ 

 the shoots and falling after shedding the t^^llj^-' /;' "ON- 



seeds. Grows as far south as Georgia. 



P. paliistris. Mill. Long-leaved pine. 

 Very tall tree, with nearly smooth bark : 

 leaves very long and slender (usually a '*"^- P^^^is rigida. 



foot or more), clustered at the ends of '^^^ "'^^'^ '°"^ ^* ^^^ ^^"• 



the branches, in 3's: cones 6 in. or more long, the scales tipped with a short 

 curved spine. Lumber tree. Virginia, south. 



P. rigida, Mill. Pitch pine. Fig. 421. Medium sized or small tree with 



