FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 13 
the preparation of a light varnish. The wood of this tree is of a 
handsome mahogany color, and is extensively used in Morocco in the 
construction of mosques and similiar buildings. The junipers have 
cones in which the scales cohere into a fleshy berry, well known as 
‘juniper berries.’? These are usually highly aromatic, and those of 
the common juniper (J. communis) yield a volatile oil used in medicine 
as a diuretic and stimulant; they are also employed in the manufacture 
of gin. The wood of our common red cedar (J. Virg/niana) is almost 
exclusively used in lead-pencil manufacture. 
Fic. 9.—Leaves and staminate flowers of the stinking cedar (Tumion 
taxifolium). Also section of fruit: the whole reduced one-half. 
TaxacEAr, the Yew Famity. This is a much smaller group 
than the Pinaceae, consisting only of two tribes. The family is dis- 
tinguished chiefly by the fruit, which is not a perfect cone, the ovules 
projecting beyond the scales or the latter wholly absent; the seed is 
