22 
North  American  Coniferce. 
j  xrr>.  Jour.  Pharau 
I     January,  18f6. 
individual  plant,  but  sometimes,  as  in  the  juniper  and  yew,  they  are 
borne  on  separate  individuals. 
The  sporangia  are  commonly  borne  on  sporophylls,  but  some- 
times, as  in  the  macrosporangia  of  the  yew,  they  are  terminal  on 
the  branches.  The  microsporangiate  flowers  usually  consist  of 
numerous  microsporophylls,  compactly  arranged  either  in  whorls  or 
spirals,  in  a  cone-like  cluster  on  a  slender  axis.  The  microsporo- 
phylls are  usually  scale -like,  short-stalked  and  somewhat  peltate, 
often  with  the  connective  continued  beyond  the  sporangia.  Each 
sporophyll  bears,  according  to  the  species,  from  two  to  as  many  as 
eighteen  sporangia.  The  latter  mostly  dehisce  longitudinally.  The 
pollen  or  microspores  are  frequently  multicellular,  sometimes  glob- 
use,  but  more  commonly  provided  with  an  opposite  pair  of  turgid, 
vesicular  appendages,  outgrowths  from  the  extine.  The  pistillate  or 
macrosporangiate  flower  is  also  usually  a  cone,  and  consists  of  a 
number  of  open  carpellary  scales  imbricated  on  an  elongated  axis, 
and  bearing  the  naked  ovules  or  macrosporangia  on  their  upper 
surfaces.  The  number  of  ovules  on  each  scale  varies  from  one  to 
as  many  as  seven. 
The  yews  are  exceptional  in  the  fact  that  there  is  no  macrosporo- 
phyll,  but  the  macrospore  is  borne  on  the  cup-shaped  end  of  the 
axis. 
The  macrosporangium  usually  has  a  gaping  micropyle,  and  often 
also  the  endostome  is  prolonged  into  a  styloid  tube. 
The  flowers  are  always  wind  pollinated. 
The  fruit  is  most  commonly  a  dry  strobile,  but  is  sometimes 
a  drupe-like  or  a  berry-like  galbulus. 
The  seed  is  often  winged,  is  always  albuminous  and  the  albumin 
may  be  oily,  fleshy,  fleshy-farinaceous,  horny,  or  rarely  ruminate. 
The  embryo  is  straight  and  axile,  the  cotyledons,  which  in  different 
species  may  vary  from  two  to  fifteen,  are  always  whorled  and  equal, 
and  the  germination  is  nearly  always  epigseal. 
CLASSIFICATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION. 
The  order  includes,  about  350  species,  grouped  into  two  sub-or- 
ders, the  Pinoidece  and  the  Taxoidece. 
sub- order  1. 
The  Pinoidece  include  by  far  the  greater  number  of  species.  They 
are  the  true  cone-bearers,  the  pistillate  flowers  being  cones  and 
