2104- ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



group, under the name of Pinus, the genera Pinus, yTbies, and Zarix of 

 Tournefort ; and adopted the genera 7'huja, Junfperus, Cupressus, and Taxus 

 as characterised by Linnaeus. Solander, in 1786, in a Dissertation published 

 at Berlin by G. Forster, indicated the Dacrydium cupressinum as a new genus 

 belonging to Coniferae, but did not give its character. Lambert, the vice- 

 president of the Linnaean Society, published, in 1803, the first volume of his 

 magnificent work, A Description of the Genus Pinus, the second volume of 

 which was published in 1832, and the third in 1837. L'He'ritier founded the 

 genus Podocarpus in 1806, and Smith that of Salisbuna in 1796. Persoon 

 added the genus Altingia to Coniferae, having mistaken a species of Liquid- 

 ambar, the aboriginal name of which is Altingia, for one of the Coniferae. 

 R. A. Salisbury published, in 1807, in the Linnccan Transactions, vol. viii., 

 some curious observations on the stigmas of the Coniferae, and endeavoured 

 to establish four new genera ; viz., Belis (Cunninghams), A'gathis (Ddin- 

 mara), Eutassa, and Colymbea (Araucdria). Ventenat, in 1808, gave a 

 new character to the Thuja articulata of Desfontaines, which he named 

 Callitris. M. Targioni Tazzetti of Florence published, in the Annals of the 

 Museum of that city, Observations on the Conifers, and particularly on the 

 genera Thuja and C'upressus, which he unites in one genus. MM. Mirbel and 

 Schubert have published, in the Annales du Museum de Paris, torn, xv., and in 

 the Bulletin des Sciences de la Societe Philomatique, torn, iii., and in various 

 other works, many observations on the Coniferae. Both these botanists have 

 proposed a new classification of the genera which compose the order, arranging 

 them into two groups : the one containing the genera in which the flowers 

 are turned up, and the other all those in which they are turned down. M. 

 Mirbel, in 1812, separated the C'upressus disticha from the other species of 

 that genus, and described it under the name of Schubert/a; a name which has 

 not been generally adopted, because it was found that M. Richard, senior, had 

 already described it under the name of Taxodium in the Annales du Musee, 

 torn. xvi. M. Tristan, in the same volume of the Annales, endeavours to 

 show that ^4 v bies and .Larix ought to be united, as Linnaeus and Gasrtner 

 had previously done. In this volume appeared also a new classification of 

 the genera composing the Coniferae, by M. Richard, senior ; in which he 

 endeavoured to establish the three groups or sections of jTaxineae, Cupressinae, 

 and Jbietinae; and this arrangement is adopted in the same author's justly 

 celebrated work, Mem. sur les Coniferes, published after his death by his son, 

 M. Achille Richard, in 1826. It is the arrangement of this author, as modi- 

 fied by Dr. Lindley in the edition of his Introduction to the Natural System 

 published in 1836, that we have followed in this work; and the characters 

 of the genera have been either drawn up or amended for us by Professor 

 Don ; who has also kindly looked over the proof sheets. By Dr. Lindley's 

 arrangement, Richard's section Taxineae is removed from the Coniferae, 

 and made a separate order, under the name of Taxaceae, as given in p. 2065. ; 

 and, under Richard's two sections >4bietinae and C'upressinae, the true Co- 

 niferae are arranged as follows : 



Sect. I. ^BIE'TINJE Richard. 



Sect. Char. All the genera included in the group are evergreen, except 

 Larix. Branches in whorls ; except, perhaps,, u*.~D(immara. Buds 

 scaly. Catkins of each sex of numerous flowers. Tip of the ovule 

 pointing towards the axis of the catkin, except in Cunninghamwz. Leaves 

 scattered, or in groups. . 



* Sexes monoecious. 



/YNUS L., in part. Male. Catkins grouped. Pollen contained in 2 cells, 

 formed in the scale, that opens lengthwise. Female. Ovules 2. Strobile 

 ovately conical in most species. Carpels, or outer scales, thickened at the 

 tip, exceeding the bracteas or thin outer scales in length, and concealing 

 them : persistent. Leaves in groups of 2, 3, or 5 ; each group arising 

 out of a scaly sheath. 



