3S(^ 



SCOTCH FIR (PINE). 



FEMALE " FLOWERS." 



The Female Flowers are grouped in cones also situated just 

 below the terminal bud ot the shoot, and vary in number trom one 

 to three. At rirst thev are inconspicuous club-shaped bodies standing 

 upright, and surrounded at the base bv the tips of the voung leaves. 

 By the autumn the short greenish-brown pedicels that support the 

 cones become long enough to allow ot their hanging down on either 

 side of the terminal bud. The cones are now hard and brown, but 

 not more than a quarter of an iiich long. The scales of the cones 

 are already tipped with the raised diamond shaped bosses, arranged 

 in spiral lines, which form so characteristic a feature of the mature 

 cone. In the following year the cone no longer appears at the 

 extremity of the bough, tor a new shoot has been tormed beyond it. 



It is now an inch in length, 

 tapering to a point, and of a dark 

 and brilliant green ; the scales are 

 tightly closed together, and the pedicel 

 is brown and scaly. In the third 

 year the cone itselt becomes brown, 

 and the scales open out to allow the 

 tiny winged seeds to escape, and 

 remain attached only at their bases. 

 There is a light brown patch at the 

 base of each scale where it has 

 been protected. The exposed parts 

 have become grey and woody. The 

 cones remain on the trees till the end 



^ ._ _jS ot the year, alter parting with their 



THE YOUNG CONES. Seeds. 



