PLANTS WHICH PRODUCE WOOD. 3 



Gymnospdrmce, or plants the seeds of which are naked, i.e. not 

 enclosed in a fruit, and the Angiosp&rmce, or fruit-bearing plants. 

 The Gymnosperras are all perennial trees and shrubs; but of 

 three " Natural Orders " into which they are divided, two, the 

 Cycaddcece and Gnetdcece, belong almost exclusively to the Southern 

 Hemisphere and are valueless as timber. The third Natural 

 Order is the Contferce, so named from the general arrangement of 

 its seeds on a series of overlapping scales arranged in a cone, but 

 having also other general characters, one of the most conspicuous 

 of which is the production of numerous, narrow, rigid, undivided 

 leaves, whence they get the familiar name of needle-leaved trees. 

 The members of this Order, which includes the Pines, Firs, 

 Larches, Cedars, etc., have much-branched stems, and wood, 

 which, though in many points, such as its arrangement in annual 

 rings of growth, it resembles that of some other, more highly- 

 organized plants, has, as we shall see, many peculiarities. It is, 

 in general, of rapid growth, soft and of even texture, and very 

 commonly abounds in resinous substances. They are, therefore, 

 often spoken of as "soft woods" or as "resinous woods" and being, 

 from these characteristics, both easily worked and of considerable 

 durability, are more extensively used than any other class of 

 woods. The Maidenhair-tree of China and Japan (Ginkgo biloba) 

 is exceptional among conifers in having broad leaves : neither this 

 tree nor the Yew can be said to bear cones, though their seeds are 

 naked : the Yew is destitute of resin ; and the epithet " soft- 

 wooded " applies to Willow, Poplar, Horse-chestnut, etc., as truly 

 as to conifers. 



The second and higher division of seed-bearing plants, the 

 Angiospermae, is divided into two Classes, which, whilst agreeing 

 in having their seeds enclosed in fruits, differ in many characters, 

 and in none more than in the structure of their stems. They are 

 known botanically, from the number of seed-leaves or cotyledons 

 of their embryos, as Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons. The Mono- 

 cotyledons, with one such seed-leaf, comprise lilies, orchids, 

 bananas, palms, sedges, grasses, etc. Few of these, such as 

 Palms and Bamboos, reach the dimensions of trees, and those 



