388 CONIFERS. 



from six to nine inches long, while those of Pinus sylvestris 

 or Scotch Fir, which reaches a much higher latitude, and 

 in mountainous countries grows in a more elevated zone, 

 seldom exceed two inches and a half in length. In the 

 genera Abies, Picea, &c, few have them longer than half 

 an inch. 



The Abietina, with the exception, perhaps, of genus 

 Araucaria, are monoecious, but the male and female cat- 

 kins differ greatly from each other in appearance. In 

 those of the male, the flower consists of a number of 

 stamens, accompanied by scales, but without any floral 

 envelope ; they are always much more numerous than 

 those of the other sex, and the discharge of pollen when 

 they burst is remarkably abundant. In the female the 

 fruit forms a cone, varying in size in different species, 

 in some being not more than half an inch long, in others 

 upwards of a foot ; the flowers consist of a stigma, 

 enclosed in a simple calyx or perianth, and accompanied 

 by an involucrum, composed, in most genera, of two scales, 

 the exterior of which is large and thick, the interior, 

 which springs from the base of the other, is thin, and 

 protects two flowers, which afterwards appear as winged 

 seeds. In some the exterior scales are thick, hard, and 

 adhere close together, as seen in Pinus pinaster, Pinus 

 pinea, &c. In genus Abies, again, they are loose, and 

 of a soft leathery texture ; from such the seeds are easily 

 extracted, but those of a hard woody substance require 

 to be forced open, or else subjected to a considerable 

 heat, to cause the scales to expand and allow the seeds 

 to fall out ; this we see naturally effected in the cones 

 of the common Pine, Pinus sylvestris, by the heat of 

 the sun in the spring and early summer months. In some 

 the cones arrive at maturity and shed their seed in six 



