CONIFERS. 597 



racHs (fig. 838) ; anthers 1-2 or many-lobed, witli longitudinal dehis- 

 ■cence, often terminated by a scaly crest (fig. 839). Female flowers in 

 cones (figs. 572, p. 317 ; 840), sometimes solitary : ovary none, its 

 place being supplied by the flat scales of the cones, arising from the 

 ■axil of membranous bracts (fig. 841) ; ovules naked, usually in pairs 

 on the face of the scales (figs. 520, p. 292 ; 841, 842 o o), inverted 

 •or erect j style 0; stigma 0. Fruit a cone (figs. 217, p. 105; 572, 

 573, p. 317), or a solitary naked seed (fig. 538, p. 302). Seed 

 with a hard crustaceous integument, sometimes winged (fig. 843) ; 

 ■embryo in the midst of fleshy oily albumen (fig. 844) ; sometimes more 

 than one embryo ; cotyledons 2, or many and verticillate (fig. 844) ; 



Pig. 842.- 



Fig, 843. 



Fig. 844. 



radicle next the apex of the seed, organically connected with the albu- 

 men. — Trees or shrubs, with branched, usually resinous trunks, the 

 wood marked with circular disks (figs. 49, 50, p. 17), the leaves 

 usually narrow, rigid or acerose, entire (fig. 162, p. 88), sometimes 

 fascicled, and with a scaly sheath at their .base (fig. 838 b). They are 

 found in various parts of the world, both in cold and hot regions. 

 They abound in the temperate regions of Europe and America, and 

 many occur in Australia. They also grow on the tropical mountains 

 of Asia and America. Some genera of Coniferse, as Araucaria, Phyl- 

 locladus, MicrocaArys, and Arthrotaxis, are peculiar to the southern 

 hemisphere. The following attain their maximum to the south of 

 the tropics : — Callitris, Podocarpus, and Dacrydium. Dammara has 

 one species in each hemisphere. 



The order is a very extensive one, and has beeli divided into the 

 following sub-orders : — 



1. AMetiness, Fir and Spruce : fertile flowers in cones, -with 1 or 2 inverted 



i, Tlie point "by whicli it is attached to the axis of the cone, o o, The two naked inverted 

 ovules, m, Their upper opening or foramen to which the pollen is applied. The foramen was 

 formerly described erroneously as a stigma. Fig. 843. A scale from a mature cone, e, The 

 scale, i, Point of insertion, g, One of the winged seeds ; the other having heen removed. 

 Fig. 844. The seed cut longitudinally, a, Base of the wing, t. Integument, p, Perisperm 

 (albumen), e, Polycotyledonous embryo. Near .the radicle are the remains of two other 

 -ahortive emhryos. 



