BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 
LEAFLETS 
Series 1 Brooklyn, N. Y., May 21, 1913 Number 7 
THE LEAVES OF PINES AND OTHER CONIFERS 
The young, pale-green shoots of the pines and other evergreen 
trees growing around the lake, toward the east side of the Garden, 
have been lately shooting forth at a prodigious rate. They point 
straight up, away from gravity; and only later turn down to as- 
sume the usual oblique or horizontal position of the branches. 
An examination of these young shoots reveals the presence of the 
little groups of needle-shaped leaves, as well as the two kinds of 
cones referred to in Leaflet No. 5. The staminate cones 
are generally at or near the base of the shoots, and occupy the 
same relative position as the little spur shoots; the carpellate 
cones are found near the tip of the shoot. The leaves of the pine, 
when pulled off from the shoot, are seen to occuron short branches 
called “spur shoots’’, in groups of twos, threes, or fives, accord- 
ing to the species; and, further, each spur shoot is wrapped up in 
one or more protecting scales, and subtended by another scale 
borne directly on the main axis. 
As will be seen from this description, there are really three 
kinds of leaves borne on these trees (1) spore-bearing leaves 
(sporophylls), consisting of carpels (making up the carpellate, or 
seed-bearing, cones), and stamens (making up the staminate, or 
male, cones); (2) foliage leaves (green, and generally needle- 
shaped, or flattened, or scale-like); and (3) scale leaves (some 
covering the winter buds, others wrapping up the young spur 
shoots or subtending these shoots). There are no floral leaves, 
(sepals and petals) such as occur in the higher flowering plants, 
so that the term flower, as commonly understood, cannot properly 
be applied to the carpellate or staminate cones. 
The pines and related trees, such as spruce, firs, hemlocks, and 
cedars, are often called “evergreen” trees. Two of the group, 
however, the larch ( Larix ) and the bald cypress ( Taxodium ) of 
