PAET I. 



GENERAL REVIEW 



OF 



CONIFEROUS PLANTS. 



Conifers, or Cone bearing, is the name given to a Natural Order 

 of Plants consisting of trees and shrubs represented in nearly all 

 parts of the world where arborescent vegetation exists,* and distin- 

 guished from every other Order of Plants by certain characters or 

 properties, by the presence of any of which Coniferous plants may 

 be readily recognised. The most noteworthy of these characters are 

 to be found in the internal structure of their wood or stems, the 

 resinous nature of their secretions, the extreme simplicity of their 

 flowers, and their fruit. The foliage and fruit, together with the 

 physical aspect of the plant or tree, or its general appearance as 

 presented to the eye, are the most easily observed ; they are 

 therefore, except by the Botanist, almost the only characters by 

 which Horticulturists and others recognise Coniferous plants. 



The Fruit of the Fir and Pine tribe, which slightly resembles 

 a cone, doubtless suggested the name Coniferse as a suitable desig- 

 nation for the Order, but the name has not been universally accepted. 



* Hindostan is an exception. Sir J. D. Hooker observes, tliat "It is a very remark- 

 able fact that no Gymnospermous tree inhabits the peninsula of India, not even the 

 genus Podocarpus, which includes most of the tropical Gymnospermre, and technically 

 Coniferous, and has glandular woody fibre, though, like the Yew, it bears berries."— 

 Himalayan Journals, vol. ii., p. 282. Central Africa is also a probable exception, but 

 even there the curious and anomalous Welwitschia nvirabilis has its home. 



