186 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



species are also arranged in alphabetical sequence. In the case 

 of the tribes and genera the most striking distinguishing charac- 

 ters are given. Synonyms are indicated by italics. Accepted 

 names, whether of genera or species, are printed in black-faced 

 type. Names applying to varieties are cited in small capitals. 

 Catalogue-names, or names applied to plants shown at exhibitions, 

 but in either case without adequate description or figure, are here 

 passed over, as well as some others not known to be in cultiva- 

 tion in the open air. Some of these omitted names will be found 

 in the " Index BibHographique " of Morren and Devos (1887). 



Nat. Obdeb CONIPEBiE. 



Mostly evergreen, resin-bearing trees ; leaves variable accord- 

 ing to stage of growth and position, rarely uniform throughout ; 

 male and female flowers separate, either on the same tree (mon- 

 oecious), or on different trees (dioecious) ; stamens in catkin-like 

 masses ; female flowers in cones, each flower consisting of two 

 scales, one above another, the lower sterile one is the bract, the 

 upper is the seed-scale, on the upper or inner surface of which are 

 placed the seeds. The relative proportions of the bract and of the 

 seed-scale vary in different cases, so that while in some genera a 

 bract and scale are always distinguishable in the ripe cone, in 

 others the two are so intimately blended as to be indistinguishable 

 to the naked eye when the cones are ripe. The male catkin may 

 be either taken as one flower of many stamens ; or each stamen 

 may be considered to be a separate flower. Similarly the female 

 cone may be regarded as a single flower of many bracts and 

 scales, or each bract with its seed-scale may be treated as a 

 distinct flower. The seeds are not, as is the case in ordinary 

 flowering plants, enclosed luitJdn the fruit-scale, or in any cavity 

 like an ovary, but simply lie n2)on its upper surface, whence the 

 name" Gymnosperms," or naked-seeded plants. 



These points of structure, though of the highest botanical 

 interest, are, unlike those relating to the life-history and mode 

 of growth, of little importance culturally, and are therefore only 

 incidentally mentioned here. The mode of germination is worthy 

 of notice by the cultivator as well as by the botanist. Some of 

 the details here given are taken from Dr. v. Tubeuf's book, 

 **Samen, Friichte und Keimlinge," etc., Berlin, 1891. These 



