SCOTCH FIR (PINE). 



355 



MALE FLOWERS. 



Male and temale " flowers " are produced on the same tree. The 

 male flowers are massed together in erect ovoid cones (the anther lobes 



containing the pollen) about a 

 quarter of an inch long, closely 

 arranged in spiral rows round a 

 stout green spike, and forming a 

 dense cluster from one to three 

 inches long. From the apex of 

 this cluster projects the terminal 

 bud. These " flower " bearing 

 spikes vary from one to three in 

 number, and spring from the 

 extremity of the last year's shoot. 

 Each separate floret of the cone 

 consists of a scale, to which is 

 attached a pair of pollen sacs, and 

 is furnished at its base with long 

 narrow bright brown scales, and at 

 the base ot the main spike are 

 several layers of such scales curling back from the tips. The flowers 

 are produced in May ; at first a dull red they change to sulphur- 

 yellow when the pollen is ripe. This is sometimes produced in such 

 profusion that when the anther lobes burst, and it is scattered, the 

 ground beneath the tree is tinted yellow. It is carried by the wind 

 directly on to the naked ovule of the female flower without the aid 

 of insects. 



THE MALE FLOWER. 



