Ch. XIII] 



THE CONIFERS 



523 



Fig. 368. — The Yew, 

 Taxus baccata; X f. 

 (From Kerner. ) 



the seeds, each provided with a wing 



formed by part of the ovuliferous scale, 



are disseminated by wind. 



While in most Coniferae the ovules 



occur in cones, in Juniper and Yew they 



do not. In the former, two or three 



naked ovules at the end of a small branch 



become nearly inclosed by their subtend- 

 ing bracts, which develop into a kind of 



dry berry. In the Yew (Fig. 368), the 



single terminal ovule becomes nearly 



surrounded by a pulpy red aril, or extra 



seed coat, attractive to birds, by 



which the seeds are disseminated. 



The Cedar of Lebanon (Fig. 369) is a famous tree of this 



group, as is the 

 Sequoia or Red- 

 wood of Califor- 

 nia, which is the 

 largest if not the 

 tallest of trees 

 (page 113). In 

 the Southern 

 Hemisphere, the 

 Araucaria takes 

 the place of Pines 

 and Spruces, and 

 is known to us 

 in the Norfolk 



Island Pine grown 

 in greenhouses. 

 Taxodium, the 

 Bald Cypress, is 

 a well-known 

 swamp tree of the southeastern United States, and noted for 

 the remarkable knees which have puzzled ecologists (page 252). 



Fig. 369. — The Cedar of Lebanon. 

 (From Balfour.) 



