PINE FAMILY 
flowers minute, globose, consisting of four to six stamens arranged 
upon a short axis; filaments scale-like, bearing anther cells. Pistil- 
late flowers small, oblong, or ovoid; scales eight to twelve, oblong, 
acute; reddish, the central or lower fertile, bearing two to four 
ovules. 
Fruit.—Cone, ripening firstseason. Pale cinnamon brown, erect, 
oblong, one-third to one-half of an inch long ; scales six to twelve, 
obtuse. Seed one-eighth of an inch long, winged. 
This tree is commonly called Arborvitz, sometimes White 
Cedar, and the Indians of New York call it, Oo-soo-ha-tah— 
“Feather-leaf.” The leaves are evergreen, arranged in four 
rows in alternately opposite pairs, completely covering and 
in fact seeming to make up the fan-like branchlets. ‘They 
are scale-like, each lower pair covering the base of the pair 
above. The branchlets which they cover are arranged in a 
single plane as if they were parts of one large, flat, compound 
leaf. These planes are variously inclined to the horizon, often 
vertical, and form a marked peculiarity of the tree. The 
leaves when bruised exhale a very agreeable, aromatic, resin- 
ous odor. 
The Arborvitz has been extensively cultivated as an or- 
namental tree for at least a century, and nearly fifty varieties 
are recorded. The tree is so formal in outline that it rarely 
harmonizes with other trees. Its form seems the result of 
clipping shears but in reality it is its nature to look artificial. 
It has merits. Because of the density of its foliage, it will 
form a close leafy screen more effectually than any other 
evergreen. It is tolerant of many and diverse conditions of 
hot, cold, wet and dry, bears the knife well, and makes excel- 
lent hedges, During the early winter it stands up bright and 
green, during the weather changes of March and April it ap- 
pears very brown, ragged, and discouraged, but all this is 
atoned for when the golden green spray starts from every 
leafy branch, and it responds to the influences of another 
spring. 
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