294 INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY 



(fig. 227, (7), and the fir trees (Abies) ; the Southern bald 

 cypress (Taxodium), which, with the tamarack (Larix) of the 

 Northern bogs, are deciduous conifers; the Northern white 

 cedar, or arbor vitse (Thuja) (fig. 227, _D), and the Southern 

 white cedar ( Chamaecyparis) ; the red cedar, juniper, and 

 low juniper (Juniperus) ; and the redwoods and " big trees " 

 (Sequoia) of the western part of North America (fig. 222). 



279. Products of gymnosperms. We naturally think of tim- 

 ber as the chief product of gymnosperms. By far the largest 

 part of our primeval forests were of coniferous trees, and these 

 are still much more abundant than all other kinds of trees. 

 The pines and other conifers produce over three fourths of 

 the timber of the United States. The white pine (Pinus 

 8trobu8~), the long-leaf pine (Pinus palustris) (fig. 229), and 

 the loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) of the Southern states, the bull 

 pine (Pinus ponderosa) and the sugar pine (fig. 228) of the 

 Pacific coast and the Rocky Mountain region, and the very 

 widely distributed spruce (Picea) are used in large quantities. 



The western Douglas fir is a timber tree of great size and 

 importance ; the bald cypress of the South has produced im- 

 mense quantities of lumber, though the available supply is 

 becoming limited ; the redwoods of the Western coast are im- 

 portant; but the preservation of the redwood forests is limiting 

 their output, since natural-history interests of forests sometimes 

 outweigh their importance as sources of lumber. 



In addition to ordinary uses for construction work, railroad 

 ties, and fuel, coniferous woods have many special uses, as 

 the use of red cedar in making lead pencils and moth-proof 

 chests. Several species of nut-bearing pines in western North 

 America and one in southern Europe bear edible seeds which 

 are used as food ; valuable extracts, as pine tar, rosin, and oil 

 of turpentine, are obtained in this country and are derived 

 chiefly from the long-leaf pine (fig. 229). 



280. Gymnosperms once more abundant. We have already 

 learned that during the carboniferous age the ferns and their 

 relatives were the dominant plants, but fossil remains prove 



