THE FIR TRIBE. 



325 



flower is a solid catkin, composed of thick over- 

 lapping scales, at the base of each of which are 

 generally two ovaries. The whole of the fertile 

 flower is persistent, increasing in size, but not 

 altering materially in shape until it becomes 

 a woody cone. Meanwhile the ovaries have grown 

 into seeds, furnished each with a membranous 

 wing, which, though not buoyant like the down 

 of the thistle, flies away lightly enough before the 



CONES OF STONE-PINE. 



mountain breeze. Until the seeds are ripe, that 

 is, for a year or more after flowering, the cones 

 are hard balls of wood, composed of a number of 

 distinct pieces, so closely ad- 

 hering together, that not a 

 drop of water can penetrate 

 them, and firm enough to bear 



.1 i n r. T °. p SEED OF SCOTCH PINE. 



tne snocK oi dropping irom 



the loftiest trees, or of leaping from rock to rock 



