GTM]S T OSPEBMIA. 361 



Juniperus is best known in this country by the common Juniper shrub, 

 J. vulf/aris, or by the cultivated Savine, J. Sabina ; but the species of other 

 countries are more important, as J. bermudiana and J. viryiniana, the 

 " Red Cedars/' the aromatic wood of which is used for cabinet-making 

 and for blacklead pencils ; J. Oxycedrus, a Mediterranean species, forms 

 also good and durable wood. Thuja occidentalis and orientalis are the 

 Arbor-vitee trees of our shrubberies ; Cryptomeria is now introduced also 

 from Japan ; Cupressus sempervirens is the common Cypress ; Callitris 

 quadrivalvis, the Arar-tree of North Africa, has odoriferous and durable 

 wood ; C. australis is the Oyster-Bay Pine of Australia. Taxodium 

 distichum is the Deciduous Cypress of the United States, and characterizes 

 the Cypress-swamps of the Southern States. 



Among the above, turpentine, resin, and pitch are derived from many ; 

 important kinds of resin are : common turpentine, resin, pitch, and Bur- 

 guudv pitch, from Pinus sylvestris ; Venice turpentine from the Larch ; 

 Strasburg turpentine from Abies pectinata; Bordeaux turpentine from. 

 P. Pinaster &c. ; Canada Balsam from Abies balsamea and A. canadensis ; 

 Sandarac from Callitris quadrivalvis ; Gum-Dammar from Dammara 

 australiSj &c. The berries of Juniperus vulyaris are aromatic, and are 

 used for flavouring gin ; they are diuretic ; J. Sabina has still more active 

 diuretic properties ; and Cupressus and Thuja appear to have poisonous 

 qualities. The large seeds of many other Pines, besides the Stone-pine, are 

 eaten locally, in a fresh state, as of Araucaria imbricata, A. Bidwilli, &c. 

 The bark of the Larch has been used to check profuse expectoration and 

 internal haemorrhage. 



TAXACEJL THE TEW OEDEE. 



Class Coniferae, EndL Class Gymnogens, Lindl. 



Diagnosis. Trees or shrubs with narrow rigid leaves or broad leaves 

 (phyUodes, leaf -like shoots ?) with forked nerves, unisexual naked flowers, 

 surrounded by imbricated bracts, the male several together, each composed 

 of one or several coherent anthers, the female of a solitary naked ovule, 

 terminal or in the axil of a bract ; the seed usually surrounded by a suc- 

 culent coat Illustrative Genera : Taxtis, L. ; Podocarpus, L'Her. ; Da- 

 cry 'dium, Sol. ; Phyllocladus, L. C. Rich ; Cephalotaxus, Zucc. ; Salisburia, 

 Sin. 



Affinities, &c. The relations of this group, sometimes regarded as a 

 Suborder of the Pinaceae, are the same as those of that order ; and from 

 it these plants differ chiefly in the solitary ovule that replaces the cone. 

 It must be admitted, however, that these plants with their solitary terminal 

 ovule ( Taxus, Torreyd) favour the notion that the outer covering of the 

 nucleus is ovarian not ovular, for there is nothing like an open carpel, and 

 the two lips of the outer envelope decussate with the two upper leaves of 

 the branch, which seems to indicate their ovarian origin. The leaves of 

 Salisburia, and in a less degree those of other genera, are very similar to 

 those of Ferns ; and the stamens of Taxus closely resemble the sporanges 

 of Equisetum. The cotyledons of Salisburia are fleshy, and in germinating 

 do not escape from the seed. Torreya has ruminate perisperm. 



