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PinusJ] LXXXVII. CONIFERS. 417 



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various parts of the vwrld. Wood in concentric layers^ destitute 

 of the large dotted ducts (Jbothrenchymd) so obvious in the Oak 

 and other Dicotyledonous trees.^ Leaves linear, acerose or 

 lanceolate, rigid, entire at the margins, or dilated and lohed, always 



fascicled 



^L ^From the pine, Pinus, yre derive an immense quantity of 

 h\ useful timher, turpentine, pitch, &c. ; P. Larix yields Venetian 



Turpentine ; P. Cedrus is the Cedar of Lebanon. Gum Sand- 

 arach is supposed to be the product of Thuya articulata. The 

 fruit of our common Juniper was formerly used to impart the 



peculiar flavour to gin. Cedar-pencils are not made of the 

 real Cedar of Lebanon wood, but of an American Juniper, J. 

 Virginiana. 



mi!i"-» 1. Pixus. Fruit (dr}^ a many-flowered cone : scales closely imbricated, 



id^jj all dry. Seeds 2 on the inner face of each scale, crustaceous, 



winged at the end. 

 2. Jui^iPERUS. Fruit (drupaceous) a small roundish few-flowered cone; 



scales closely imbricated, lower ones dry, empty; 3 upper fleshy, 

 enclosing 1 — 3 bony wingless seeds. 

 lUk 3. Taxl^s. Fruit (drupaceous) composed of a cup-shaped fleshy recep- 



wlieil ^^^^^ {\^\Xh dry empty scales at its base), surrounding a single 



naked bonv seed. 



L Ovules inverted : foramen inferior. Pollen-grains oval, with 

 darkly granidar extremities and an intermediate ti^ansparent 

 band; outer coat not ruptured readily by moisture, Abietine^ 



Br. 



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1. PiNUS Linn. Fir. 



Monoecious. — Barren fl. in crowded racemose catkins ; scales 

 attached by the base, with 2 anther-cells. — Fertile fl. \n an 

 ovate or oblong many-flowered cone; its scales closely imbri- 

 cated, dry, at length indurated ; lowest ones empty, the others 

 bearing two inverted ovules on the upper surface. Seeds 2 on 

 each scale, crustaceous, terminated by a long winged appendage. 

 Name : pin, or pen, in Celtic means a head, or a prominent 

 ig, or mountain, still so called in Wales (it is Ben in Scot- 

 land), where Xh^ pine delights to grow, "moored in the rifted 

 rock." — From the great diversity of forms in this genus, 

 attempts have been made to subdivide it ; but the only certain 

 characters for the new genera depend on the scales of the cones, 

 and on the form, position, and perennial nature of the leaves : 

 we therefore retain it entire. 



- ^ The ceUs or fibres {pleurenchyma) of which the wood is composed, not being 

 accompanied by vessels or ducts, are so pressed together that a transverse section 

 exhibits under the microscope a kind of network, with square meshes formed by 

 ^ra7'^/;nines crossing each other at right armies, without any circular openings. 

 Ihti woody cells or fibres are moreover furnished on their side with curious gland- 

 like disks, observable when a thin longitudinal slice is taken parallel to the 

 medullary rays, but not when at right angles to these. 



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