EVERGREENS OF COLORADO 7 



some distance above them. The crude turpentine or pitch runs down 

 into these cups from which it is dipped out when a sufficient quantity 

 has collected. By a process of distillation, this pitch gives off the spirits 

 of turpentine, which is volatile, while the common resin or rosin of 

 commerce is left behind as a solid residue. The wood of some of our 

 pines often becomes nearly or quite saturated with its own pitch and in 

 this condition possesses great durability. The so-called pitch posts are 

 formed in this way and command a high price as compared with the 

 common type of fence posts. 



The most distinctive characters of the members of the Coniferae, 

 however, are found in the flowers and fruits which they bear. The 

 flowers are of two kinds, staminate and pistillate. The staminate flowers 

 are those which produce the pollen. They appear in spring^ aboul the 

 time that the new foliage pushes out, and are borne in small catkins or 

 cone-like clusters near the ends of the twigs. Each cluster of stamen- 

 flowers usually consists of numerous small stamens crowded together 

 upon a short axis which they completely hide. 'In some species these 

 staminate cones are about one-half or two-thirds of an inch long and 

 contain a hundred or more stamens, while in others they are much 

 smaller and have but few stamens. Each stamen of the cluster con- 

 sists of a minute double sac filled with the pollen in the form of a yellow- 

 ish powder. As the tree comes into bloom each little stamen sac splits 

 open in such a way that the pollen is allowed to sift out into the air. 

 When in this condition, a light breeze is sufficient to waft the pollen 

 powder away continuously, while a sudden gust of wind will shake it 

 out in visible quantity in appearance like sulphur dust. In regions where 

 large forests of pine occur, this pollen dust is often so abundant, during 

 the blossoming period, as to lend the impression that a shower of sulphur 

 has occurred. When seen under the high power of a microscope, the 

 pollen is found to consist of little grains each of which is composed of 

 three rounded cells. Two of these cells are air sacs and serve to buoy up 

 the grains in the air, while they are being wafted along. The shedding 

 of pollen usually lasts but a few days after which the staminate flower 

 clusters dry up and fall off, hence are not commonly noticed except bj 

 the unusually observant person. 



The pistillate cones, which are later to bear the seeds, are usually 

 produced at the ends of very short lateral branches in the upper part of 

 the tree. Each cone consists of a little axis covered with flattened scales. 

 These little scales differ in shape considerably in different species, es- 

 pecially when the cone is mature, and furnish some of the characters by 

 which the species may be distinguished. Each scale represents a pistil, 

 that part of a flower which bears the seed. At the base of each pistil, 

 upon its upper side, are two minute rounded bodies called ovules. These 

 are the rudimentary seeds and instead of being enclosed by the pistil, as 

 in most other families of plants, in the Coniferae or pine family, they 

 are naked or exposed while the tree is in bloom. During the period of 

 blooming, the pistillate flower-cones stand erect upon the twigs which 

 bear them, with the tips of the scales spread outward. Some of the 



