162 
THE ESSEX NATURALIST. 
Araucaria as a simple case ; its great cone consists of a large 
number of spirally arranged bracts or carpels, differing little 
from the foliage-leaves, and each bract bears a large ovule closely 
adhering to its upper surface. As Prof. Seward points out, 
the arrangement recalls that seen in Lycopodium or Club Moss 
in which the fertile leaves also bear sporangia on their upper 
surface. 
In the large group to which the Pines belong, the bracts 
of the female cone are quite unlike the needle-like foliage leaves, 
and more nearly resemble the bud-scales, which, however, are 
only modified leaves. They are small and have at their base 
on the upper surface a large scale bearing two ovules. In a 
young cone the bracts can easily be seen ; but in a mature cone 
the ovule-bearing scales have grown to be so much larger and 
stouter that it is only by pulling the cone to pieces that the 
minute stunted bracts can be made out. Cedars, larches, spruces, 
and silver-firs all have cones, of much the same type, and spirally 
arranged leaves. 
In the giant Sequoias, and the Deciduous-Cypress, Taxodium , 
the ovuliferous scale is inconspicuous and closely united with the 
bract. In the cypresses. Arbor-Vitaes and junipers, no ovuli¬ 
ferous scale is present in the female cone, and the bracts and also 
the leaves are either opposite or arranged in whorls. 
The yew is the only representati e commonly grown in gar¬ 
dens of the large family of conifers, the Taxaceae, in which cone- 
formation is imperfect in the female flower, with the carpels 
reduced to few, or, in yew, to one, and bearing only one or two 
ovules. When ripe the seed is usually more or less enveloped 
by a fleshy outer coat, familiar in the sweet-tasting rosy cup of 
the yew berry. 
In habit the conifers are xerophytes, that is, they are adapted 
to dry ground. In warm regions they thrive best in light sandy 
soils. In cold climates the ground in winter is physiologically 
dry, since the roots are unable to absorb very cold water. To 
guard against undue evaporation, the leaves have a comparatively 
small surface, the epidermis covering them is strongly cuticu- 
larized, and the stomata are often deeply sunk. It is possible 
that no true leaf-blades are formed either in conifers or even in 
Ginkgo, and that what we see is a leaf-stalk doing duty for a leaf, 
as is probably the case also in Monocotyledons. 
