GYMNOGENOUS PLANTS. 331 
scales of the female catkin, which are not more than six in number, 
generally three, are succulent; they present this curious fact, that 
they become fleshy, and constitute by their scales, representing 
carpels collected in a spiral round a common axis, a sort of 
: spherical berry, black or blue, containing ordinarily three bony 
seeds called botanically Galbuli. In some countries in the North 
: of Europe these fruits are subjected to fermentation, and a spirit 
is obtained, known under the name of Gin or Hollands, sometimes 
Geneva, from the French name Genevre. The Virginian Juniper, 
also called Red Cedar, furnishes a light odorous wood, with which 
the cylinders are made in which we enclose the lead of our pencils. . 
The savin, of stimulating, diuretic, and uterine powers, is extracted 
from J. Sabina. ° 
The Taxace.x, or Yews, are trees with continuous unarticulated 
branches; their leaves very close together, entirely veinless, 
almost di stichous, linear, and sharp pointed, of a deep green colour: 
flowers dicwcious. The male flowers are composed of an elon- 
gated floral axis, upon the whole length of which are inserted a 
variable number of stamens, which may be said to resemble 
studs or nails, the connective being the head. On the lower side 
of this connective, six or eight bilocular anthers are disposed 
circularly round the filament. The female flowers are solitary 
and surrounded with imbricated bracts; they consist of a sessile 
Ovule at the centre of a highly developed disc. When arrived 
at maturity this disc becomes fleshy, and forms a little cupulate 
: of a lively red, which loosely envelops the seeds. The tree then 
___- *Ppears as if covered with little cherries. These plants occur in 
. milder climates all over the world, and in elevated situations 
m the tropics. They are resinous, like Conifers, and possess 
€xcellent medicinal qualities. They include Salisburia, a tree 
of great beauty and elegance. | 
_ +he Greraczam, or Joint Firs, are small trees or sarmentose 
- Europe, with opposite leaves or clustered branches, and thickened 
‘eparable articulations. ‘This little family,” says Blume, “ con- 
‘Stitutes a part of that natural class of vegetables in which the 
fertilisation of the ovules takes place immediately, without the aid 
-Ofstyle or stigma, through the foramen of the ovule itself. From 
twiggy shrubs of the temperate parts of Asia, South America, and — a 
