Ss ° FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 
ORDER CONIFERAE. 
We have now reached the largest and by far the most important 
group among the Gymnosperms, comprising as it does, some of the most 
valuable timber trees in the world. In referring to the pines, spruces 
and junipers of our northern forests the average individual is apt to use 
the terms ‘‘evergreen’’ and ‘coniferous’? somewhat loosely and inter- 
changeably. An evergreen plant is merely one which retains its foliage 
until after the new growth has begun to develop. A conifer, on the 
other hand, is a plant belonging to the order Coniferae, and so named 
on account of the characteristic fruit; thus while most conifers are 
evergreen and a large part of our evergreens in temperate climates are 
conifers, it will be seen that the two terms are not synonymous. This 
cone-fruit varies greatly in size, shape and structure in different genera, 
and there is even great diversity among the species of a single genus, 
as will be seen on reference to Fig. 5, which represents the cones of 
Fic. 5.—Cones. Beginning at the left, Coulter’s pine, Western white 
pine, Eastern white pine, Knob-cone pine, Foxtail pine, Pitch pine, 
Lodge-pole pine, Red fir, Short-leaf pine, Eastern hemlock, and Eastern 
arbor-vitae. (After Pinchot, Bull. 24, Div. of Forestry, U.S. Dep't of 
Agric). 
several pines. A cone consists of a central axis bearing adjoining or 
overlapping scales, which may be hard and woody or fleshy in texture, 
The male flowers of conifers usually resemble catkins in appearance; 
they consist of scalelike leaves or bracts bearing the pollen-sacs be- 
neath. The ovules are likewise borne on or within the scales of the 
cone, and ripen into nutlike fruits. The wood structure in the conifers 
is of interest to the student of plant anatomy, the wood being uniform 
