886 CONIFERS. 



like those of the monocotyledons of parallel fibres without 

 any lateral nerves, by the verticillate growth of their 

 frond-like branches, which clothe them from the base to 

 the summit, giving them a regular pyramidal or cone- 

 like form, which holds good in all the species for a cer- 

 tain period of their existence, and by some is retained 

 during the whole of it, as we see exhibited in the modern 

 genera, Ahies, Pioea, Lariw, &c, while others, as most 

 of the genus Pinus, and genus Cedrus, at an advanced 

 age lose this peculiar character, in consequence of the 

 gradual decay and falling off of the lower branches, and 

 their summits becoming rounded or flattened by the 

 lateral extension and increase of the upper branches. 

 The stature of the species, generally speaking, is lofty, 

 sometimes attaining a very extraordinary height, the 

 trunk straight and erect, and in all those firs which retain 

 the pyramidal form during life, beautifully tapered from 

 the base to the summit. The branches of these, we may 

 add, always continue small and slender, in proportion 

 to the bulk of the trunk, and have aptly been compared 

 to immense leaves, and are one of the circumstances 

 which seem to assimilate and connect the firs with the 

 palms. The increase, or annual growth of the Abietmce, 

 is chiefly, and in certain species, entirely effected by shoots 

 which proceed from terminal bnds ; for axillary buds, and 

 such as are found at the base of the leaves of other orders 

 of trees, are comparatively very rare. In genus Pinus they 

 are scarcely ever seen, in Abies and Picea a few are met 

 with, in Cedrus they are rather more abundant, and in 

 Larlx more numerous than in any other. 



The buds are protected in their embryo or dormant 

 state by numerous scales, which are sometimes varnished 

 with a resinous coat ; these are thrown off when vege- 



