II. THE SPECIES. 



The conifers are members of the pine family. Those of this region 

 are, with one exception, evergreens. The majority are needle-leaf 

 trees which bear cones and seeds provided with thin, wing-like ap- 

 pendages, which facilitate their distribution by the wind. The seeds 

 are produced on the upper surface of a flat, scale-like structure, 

 though in some cases not obviously so. The exposed position of the 

 seeds is a mark of one of the primary divisions of the seed-bearing 

 plants, viz, the gymnosperms ; the other one of the primary divisions, 

 the angiosperms, is characterized by the production of seeds inclosed 

 in a pod, capsule, or other structure. The flowers of the pine family 

 are simple, inconspicuous structures, which open early in the season. 

 They are always of two kinds ; one kind, which are relatively few in 

 number, ultimately matures the seeds; the other kind is produced 

 in far greater numbers and bears the pollen. Members of the pine 

 family are all woody plants ; most of them, the largest of our forest 

 trees, have straight central shaft and symmetrical growth; others are 

 more or less irregular in form and of low and spreading habit. 



The flowers, and later the cones, consist of a central axis upon 

 which are closely arranged scale-like structures in spiral or circular 

 order. The male or pollen flowers vary from an eighth of 1 inch to 

 2 inches in length, and on the lower surface of each scale are two or 

 more minute sacs, in which the pollen in produced. This pollen is 

 usually discharged in May or June, and the flowers then usually drop 

 off, though often they may be found dry and withered, clinging to 

 the branch. The pollen of many species is produced in such quanti- 

 ties that it issues from the crowns of the trees, when stirred by the 

 slightest breeze, in clearly visible clouds, dustlike, and settles on the 

 surrounding vegetation as a yellow powder, or washed by rivulets 

 into golden windrows. Some of this pollen falls, perchance, upon 

 the female or seed-producing flowers, where it effects fertilization. 

 Pollination of the flowers is thus left solely to chance through the 

 agency of wind, and the fact of so much waste necessitates the pro- 

 duction of a vastly greater quantity of the pollen than is actually 

 used. The male germ cell in the pollen grain must unite with a fe- 

 male germ cell in another flower, in order that a seed may be pro- 

 duced, and one such union is necessary for each seed. The female 



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