Fig. 674*. Sequoia sempervirens. Near Crescent City, California. (From 

 a photograph by Professor A. Henry.) 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



CONIFERALES (RECENT). 



The Coniferales, by far the largest section of the Gymnosperms, 

 present considerable difficulty to the student of fossil plants. 

 There is great divergence of opinion with regard to the relative 

 antiquity of the several families, and their position in an evolu- 

 tionary series. The Abietineae are by some botanists regarded 

 as the most primitive ; on the other hand, and this is the view 

 that in my opinion receives most support from the available 

 evidence, it is held that the Araucarineae are both the most 

 primitive and the oldest representatives of the Coniferales. Until 

 recent years the study of fossil Conifers has sufiered neglect and 

 little help has been afforded by palaeobotanists to the solution of 

 the morphology of the ovulate shoots of the different genera, a 



