CONIPEEiE, OR COKE-BEARII^^^G TKEES. 



237 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

 CONIFERS, OR CONE-BEARING TREES. 



Many volumes have been written, avowedly for the pur- 

 pose of giving a correct classification of the cone-bearing 

 trees of the world, but the authors of no two of them agree, 

 except as to some of the most simple characteristics of the differ- 

 ent genera and species, and the result is, a confusion that may 

 well astound the novice who desires to find an authority at 

 once unimpeachable, and so thoroughly trustworthy, that it 

 may in all cases be quoted without fear of being led into an 

 error. Even in such a simple matter as names of the different 

 species of conifers, authors disagree, and often so widely that no 

 one but a student, or one well versed in the literature of the 

 subject, can possibly reach a satisfactory conclusion as to the 

 identity of any but the oldest and most familiar. 



It is true that such European botanists as Tournefert, Lam- 

 bert, Linnaeus, Endlicher, Loudon, Lawson, and the more mod- 

 ern writers like Gordon, Masters, and Veitch, have aided, and 

 in fact have done some good work in elaborating the various 

 genera of which this great Natural Order of plants is composed, 

 but there is yet much material left in an unsatisfactory condi- 

 tion, owing probably in part to the innate difficulties surround- 

 ing the subject, and partly to the lack of the scientific knowl- 

 edge necessary to trace the affinities and relationship of the 

 different species and genera. But I am inclined to believe that 

 much of the confusion that exists in regard to the classification 

 and the names of the different species of conifers, is the result 

 of prejudice and personal opinion, with a desire on the part of 

 each author to set up a standard of his own, which, to be satis- 

 factory to himself, must differ more or less from that estab- 

 lished by rival authors. I may be wrong in this matter, but I 

 cannot well attribute the idiopathies of several of the most 

 noted European authors to any other cause. We certainly can- 

 not accuse them of ignorance, or of not being familiar with the 

 writings of others on the same subject, for their works show 

 quite the contrary. Still, when we find men ignoring science, 

 in order to laud a hero as Yeitch, Gordon, and nearly all Eng- 

 lish authors do, in giving the generic name of the Mammoth 

 Tree of California as Wellingtonia, instead of the correct one of 



