3o8 CLASSIFICATION- 



in Jurassic times. At the present day they are con- 

 fined to tropical and warm temperate climates. The 

 genus Oycas is almost universally distributed within 

 these limits. 



In Bengal, Cycas revoluta (see fig. 276), a Japanese 

 import, is commonly grown in gardens, and resembles 

 a Date tree in appearance; C. pectinata is an ever- 

 green palm-like tree of Assam and Chittagong. 



Nat. Order 2. Coniferce. — The ConifercB comprises 

 the Pines, Firs, Larches, Yews, Cedars, Cypresses, 

 Junipers, Deodar, and other more or less common 

 plants of the temperate climates and cold countries. 

 Only a few are grown in the plains of Bengal, as orna- 

 mental garden plants. The family is characterized 

 by abundant branching of the stem, relatively small 

 entire leaves, often needle-shaped or filiform, and dis- 

 tinctly cone-like fruit. The common Himalayan Pine 

 is the cheer (Pinus longifolius), and the common 

 Khasia Pine or saral-gacch is Pinus Khasya (fig. 

 278). Thuja orientalis Linn., a small tree grown in 

 our gardens, commonly goes by the Bengali name of 

 belati-jhau. Podocarpus nerifolia is a tall, glabrous 

 tree, 30 to 50 feet high, found in Chittagong. 



The flowers are commonly dioecious, rarely mon-_ 

 oecious. The male flowers are arranged in short 

 spikes or catkins, consisting of a short axis or rachis 

 on which are inserted minute imbricating scales, each 

 scale bearing on its under surface 2 pouch-like pollen- 

 sacs (microsporahgia) (fig. 279) ; each of these scales, 

 in fact, is a stamen. The female flowers (see fig. 278) 

 also form a conical spike consisting of an axis on 

 which are inserted the imbricated scales, known as 

 BRACT-SCALES (fl). In the axil 'of each of the bract- 

 scales is another scale known as ovuliferous scale 

 ifl), which bears on the basal portion of the upper 



