CONIFERS. (PINE FAMILY.) 429 



• Scales of the fertile araents few, decussately opposite, becoming drupe-like in fruit with 



bony seeds : leaves opposite or in threes, usually scale-like : flowers dioecious : leaf- 

 buds not scaly. 



1. Janiperns. Ovules in pairs or solitary at the base of the fleshy (4 to 6, or 3 to 9) 



scales. Seeds 1 to 5 or more. Berry globose, reddish, blue, or blackish, ripening 

 the second year. 



* ♦ Scales of the fertile aments numerous, spirally imbricated, becoming a dry coriar'eous 



cone in fruit : male flowers also spirally arranged : leaves scattered or fasiick-d, from 

 linear to needle-shaped : flowers monoecious : leaf-buds scaly. — Abietine.c 

 ♦- Cones maturing the first year, their bracts remaining membranous : leaves solitary, 



mostly entire. 

 ++ Branchlets smooth, the leaf-scars not raised. 



2. Abies. Leaves sessile, leaving circular scars. Cones erect, their scales deciduous 



from the axis. Seeds with resin-vesicles. 



3. Pseiidotsug^a. Leaves petioled, the scars transversely oval. Cones pendulous, their 



scales persistent on the axis. Seeds without resin-vesicles. 

 ++ ++ Branchlets rough from the prominent persistent leaf- bases : cones pendulous, their 

 scales persistent on the axis. 



4. PIcea. Leaves sessile, keeled on both sides, with two lateral ducts. Seeds without 



resin-vesicles. 



-»- -^ Cones maturing the second year, their bracts becoming corky and thickened : leaves 

 in bundles of 2 to 5, their base surrounded by a sheath of scarious bud-scales usually 

 serrulate. 



6. Pinus. Resin-ducts inconstant in number and variously placed. 



1. JUNIPERUS. L. Juniper. 



The small solitary aments axillary, or terminal upon short lateral branch- 

 lets : in staminate flowers the anther-cells are 4 to 8 under each shield-sliaped 

 scale : cotyledons mostly 2. — Low shrubs or trees, with mostly thir. shreddy 

 bark. 



* Aments axillari/ : leaves ternate, free and jointed at base, finear-stthulate, 



pungent, channelled and ivkite-glaucous above, not glandular-pitted. — Oxy- 



CEDRUS. 



1. J, communis, L. With spreading or pendulous branches: leaves 

 rigid, more or less spreading, 5 to 9 hues long : fruit dark blue, 3 lines in 

 diameter or more, 1 to 3-seeded. 



Var. alpina, Gaud. Low and decumbent or prostrate: leaves shorter, 

 2 to 4 lines long, and less spreading. — The species is found in the moun- 

 tains from New Mexico and northward throughout British America, while 

 the variety has a range not quite so extensive. 



* * Aments terminal: leaves ternate (or opposite), of two for 7ns, mosth; adnate 



and scale-like, closely appressed and crowded upon the branches and often 

 glandular-pitted, occasionalli/ more distant, free and subulate. — Sabixa. 

 Ours belong to the group with bluish-black pulpy berries. 

 ■»- Leaves fringed on the edges. 

 2 J. OCCidentalis, Hook. A shrub or small tree, with shreddy bark 

 and pale reddish-yellow wood : leaves closely appressed, obtuse or acutish : 

 berries 4 to 5 lines in diameter, with one or more seeds. — Northwest of our 

 range. 



