50 A MANUAL OP THE CONIFER*. 



to be essentially Exogens ; * they have also dicotyledonous and 

 polycotyledonous embryos, and germinate nearly in the same manner 

 as dicotyledonous plants. Through the Cycads Conifers are related 

 to Ferns, and more remotely to Palms ; the relationship between 

 the Cycads and the Perns consisting in some of the species having 

 " the gyrate vernation of the leaves of true Perns* along with the 

 inflorescence of Conifers ; " and with Palms in lengthening their 

 trunk by a terminal bud only, and in the external resemblance 

 of their fronds. On the other hand, Conifers are related to the 

 higher Orders of Bxogens through Gnetum and Ephedra, which are 

 true Gymnosperms, but the former has all the appearance of a 

 Chloranth, and the latter that of a Casuarina.t 



The Coniferse have been studied by many eminent Botanists. Among 

 the earliest Vas Tournefort, who, in his Institutiones, published in 

 1717, established the following nine genera, viz., Abies, Pinus, Larix, 

 Thuya, % Cupressus, Cedrus, Juniperus, Taxus, and Ephedra. Linnaeus, in 

 his Genera Plantarum, published in 1737, only admitted seven of 

 Tournefort's genera, uniting Larix to Abies, and Cedrus to Juniperus. 

 He founded the genus Ginkgo, which was changed by Smith in 1796 

 to Salisburia, on account of its being equally "uncouth and barbarous," § 

 an innovation afterwards protested against by the elder De Candolle on 

 the principle of checking the introduction of a multiplicity of names. 

 Adanson, in 1763, in his Families cles Plantes, adopted Tournefort's 

 genera with the exception of Cedrus, which, with Linnaeus, he united 

 to Juniperus ; and he added to the Coniferae the genera Casuarina and 

 Equisetum. De Jussieu, in 1789, in his Genera Plantarum, formed 

 the family of Coniferse of the seven genera adopted by Linnaeus, 

 placing there Casuarina and adding Araucaria. Gaertner, in 1791, 

 united into one group under the name of Pinus, the genera Pinus, 

 Abies, and Larix, of Tournefort, and adopted the genera Thuja, 

 Juniperus, Cupressus, and Taxus, as characterised by Linnaeus. 

 Solander, in 1798, indicated the Dacrydkun as a new genus. Lambert 

 published in 1803 the first volume of his magnificent work The Genus 

 Pi mis, the second volume of which was published in 1832, and the 

 third in 1837. L'Heritier founded the genus Podocarpus in 1806. 

 Salisbury published in 1807, in the Linnman Transactions, some curious 

 observations on the stigma? of the Coniferae, and endeavoured to 

 establish four new genera, viz., Belis (Cunninghamia), Agathis (Dammara 

 of Rumph), Eutassa and Colymbea (Araucaria). Ventenat, in 1808, 



* See p. 7. + Dr. Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom, p. 221. 



J The orthography of the genera given in this article is that of their founders, 

 § Loudon, Arb. el Frut., p. 2,095. 



