THE CONIFERS 165 



when you examine the small terminal catkins, you will 

 find the $ ones composed of several scales or flowers, 

 each scale bearing two to four anther-cells 

 on the lower margin (Fig. 447), while the 

 globular ? catkins consist of four rows of 

 scales, each scale or flower bearing one or 



FIG. 446. FIG. 447. FIG. 44<>. 



several erect, bottle-shaped ovules at the base (Fig. 448). 

 The developed cone of the white cedar is scarcely larger 

 than a pea, with scales firmly closed, but opening at maturity. 



The juniper or red cedar, common on dry, sterile, 

 rocky hills, both northward and southward, blossoms in 

 April. The various species are mostly dioecious, and the 

 catkins are very small. Observed only when in fruit, you 

 would scarcely regard the juniper as a coniferous plant, 

 but the ? catkin, when in flower, is seen to consist of 

 from three to six scales, bearing a variable number of 

 ovules precisely in the same manner as the pine. But, in 

 ripening, these scales grow together, turn purple, and form 

 a berry-like fruit as large as a pea. Fig. 449 represents 

 one of these berries with its scaly bracts underneath, while 

 Fig. 450 shows one of its enlarged bony seeds. The ber- 

 ries ripen the second year from the flower. 



The ground-hemlock is another coniferous plant with 

 a berry-like fruit. Its ? flower is more simple than those 

 we have been examining, for it consists of a single ovule, 

 without even an accompanying scale. This straggling 

 bush, two or three feet high, is found in shady places, 



