24 Forest Club Annual 



birch, willow, maple, etc. On dry rocky slopes in the foothills 

 a species of oak, Quercus novomexicana, often forms rather 

 dense brush. The list of low bush-forming plants is rather large. 



CONIFERAE-THE PINE FAMILY 



Trees or shrubs with resinous juice; leaves needle-shaped, 

 awl-shaped or scale-shaped, single or in bundles of 2-5, generally 

 persistent for a number of years; flowers appearing near the tips 

 of the branches in early spring, surrounded at the base by a 

 fringe of more or less papery scales; the stamens and pistils 

 occur in different flowers; pistillate flowers composed of a 

 central axis surrounded by scales bearing on their inner face two 

 or more naked ovules; the axis with the scales becomes at ma- 

 turity a woody cone or rarely a berry; each seed when ripe may 

 or may not be provided with a membranous wing; staminate 

 flowers of papery scales, soon disappearing after the escape of 

 the pollen. 



KEY TO THE GENERA OF CONIFERAE 



Based upon Leaf and Cone Characters 



I. Leaves needle-shaped, in tufts or bundles of 2-5, usually exceeding 1 inch 



in length, enclosed at the base by a short sheath of papery scales; 

 fruit a cone, scales of the mature cone thick and woody; cone scales 

 persistent on the axis of the cone; seed with or without a wing. 



Pinus 



II. Leaves needle-shaped, single, usually less than 1 inch long, leaf sheath 



absent; fruit a cone, scales of the mature cone thin, papery or leathery; 

 seed small, with wing. 



1 Leaves 4-angled, with short hard bases which persist on the 

 twigs when the leaves fall leaving a very rough surface; cones 

 pendulous, scales papery and persistent on the axis. 



Picea 



2 Leaves usually flat, without hard persistent bases, leaving 

 rounded or oval scars when they fall and hence quite smooth 

 twigs. 



1) Leaves with a narrow stalk-like base, scars small, usually 

 elliptical, mature cones pendulous with a projecting 3-pointed 

 bract beneath each scale. 



Pseudotsuga 



2) Leaves not much narrowed at the base, scars large, round, 

 somewhat depressed; cones erect, purple or blackish, their 

 scales at maturity falling separately from the axis with the 

 seeds, axis persistent. 



Abies 



III. Leaves scale-like or awl-shaped and sharp pointed, opposite in pairs or 



in whorls of three; fruit berry-like, bluish black with white bloom; 

 seeds few, bony, wingless, imbedded in the pulpy substance of the 

 fruit. 



1 Leaves awl-shaped and sharp pointed, about 0.5 inch long, in 

 whorls of three. 



' % . Jumperus 



2 Leaves scale-like, very short, opposite in pairs. 



Sabina 



