24 



A MANUAL Of THE CONtFERiE. 



Fig. 5.-: 

 Ovule-bearing Catkin 

 of Spruce Fir. Natural 

 size. 



two, three, or more anther cells, those of the female have numerous 

 erect ovules ; in the latter the male flowers consist 

 of peltate scales, each with from two to eight anther 

 lobes, and the female ones, which are either solitary 

 or in groups, of a single erect ovule in the middle 

 of a small cupuliform disc. 



Being destitute of calyx and corolla, the flowers of 



Coniferous plants are also wanting in the brilliant hues 



that distinguish the flowers of most of the higher orders. 



Nevertheless, there are some species which have the 



scales of their pollen bearing flowers highly coloured ; 



in Pinus ponderosa, these are bright red, and being 



produced in large clusters are very conspicuous ; in 



P. Laricio and its allies, they are yellow; in P. excelsa, 



purple ; in P. macrocarpa, orange ; in Cwpressus Law- 



soniana, crimson; in the Chinese Juniper, the Arbor 



Vitse, and some others they are yellow. The quantity 



of pollen produced by the male flowers of a single tree is often 



surprisingly great ; a puff of wind has' been observed to scatter the 



pollen of an Araucaria imbricata like a cloud of dust; the surface of 



the ground beneath a Spruce Fir that has shed its pollen is made 



quite yellow with fine dust; and in a forest of Pine and Fir, the 



quantity of pollen is sometimes such 

 as to produce effects almost exceeding 

 belief. "In Inverness-shire, a great 

 shower of the pollen of the Fir took 

 place in 1858, the ground was covered 

 by a layer of this substance in some 

 places to a depth of half an inch, 

 and the deposit was noticed at places 

 thirty-three miles apart. The whole 

 surface of the great lakes in Canada 

 is not unfrequently covered by a thick 

 scum of the same pollen. Similar 

 occurrences have been noticed in the 

 forests of Norway and Lithuania." 

 (Goal, by the Professors of the York- 

 shire College, p. 24.) 



<# 



:uv 



Fig. 6. -Longitudinal section of a cone of (he VirtiU T^o TPt,™™, :„ „' 1 



Stone Pine {Pinus pinea), showing the relative -CTUll. lUe E HVITl IS Simply an aSSem- 



positions of the axis, scales, and seed. Two- ti t- -, , , , 



blage of seeds enclosed by the mature 



thirds natural size. 



ovule producing scales. In the Fir and 

 Pine tribe the scales are hard and ligneous in texture, imbricated, closely 



