face of metamorphosed leaves; the same peculiar form of a

inflorescence, the same kind of male flowers, the same constant separation of the sexes, and a like imperfect formation of spiral vessels;and both agree in having the vessels of their wood marked with circular disks; a character which, if not confined to them, 1s uncommon elsewhere.” They are all natives of the tropics, or of temperate America, and the eastern part of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, where they form thickets along the Caffre frontier.

The Prvacem are noble trees or evergreen shrubs, with a branching trunk abounding in resin. The leaves are alternate, elongated, linear, and lanceolate, acicular, or pointed, sometimes fasciculated in two, three, or five bundles, - each of them being a little branch with very short axis; when thus fasciculated the primordial leaf to and er which they are then axillary is membranous wraps them like a sheath, as in Pinus strobus, in Fig. that is, they bear male 369. The flowers are monecious, and female flowers upon the same stem. The male are. which flowers are composed of a floral axis, along: inserted a considerable number of stamens having ® short filament, and an anther which opens from without in two longitudinal clefts; this anther is surmoun™ The female — tongue. like a connective dilated by a flowers are disposed in a catkin, and are each compos of an ovarium destitute of style or stigma; in the manner of scales, and bearing on its internal sura straight face two suspended ovules, orthotropal, or in the male flowerW1 line with its axis. Fig. 370 represents flower — thefemale; Fig.371, of theanther view an enlarged 8-8. of inverted a pair hand right on the showing scales, hard, capillary _ with ovules, When these flowers have ripened, the scales becom a ligneous, and thickened at the summit into a elub-like — they now form the composite fruit we call a Cone, which has gv" oe The a name to the family in various botanical systems. represented in Fig. 372. It is formed of scale-shaped ovaries nV enlarged and hardened, and sometimes of bracts also, which occasionally obliterated, and sometimes extend beyon in the form of a lobed appendage. These scales finally te:

Sylvestris.Plate VII.—Pinus

soil, thus completing the end of their existence, namely, the propagation of their species.

at Fig. 370.— Male Flower of Pinus Fig. 372.—Fruit of the Fig. sylvestris. vio arena. Pine:

The Pivacem or Conifers are resinous, mostly evergreen and hard-leaved trees or shrubs, all but universally diffused over the © globe. Gigantic in size, rapid in growth, noble in aspect, and robust in constitution, these trees form a considevable portion of the woods and plantations in cultivated countries, as well as of Primeval forests in all temperate countries. In Europe, Siberia, China, and North America the species are abundant; the timber _ : trees being exceedingly valuable in commerce, in which Deal, Fir, — , Pine, and Cedar are well-known products, while their resins yield Oil of turpentine, Canadian balsam, Burgundy pitch, all equally Well known. The common Larch yields Venetian turpentine; diquid storax is produced from a species of Pine, spruce beer is _ Made from branches of the Hemlock spruce, and Sayin: a well- _ Mi@wn irritant iomadefromthe Juniper. co ee he Among the double-leaved Pines worthy of consideration, we ae _ ™@y mention the Pinus sylvestris represented in Plate VII.—this _ glaucous, twoshort trunk, and upright of erect ScotchPinethe

Fig. 372.—Fruit of the Pine: —Fruit Pine:

leaves, the most hardy and valuable of all the Pines; the Maritime Pine; the Corsican Pine (P. /arcico), a noble tree spread over the mountains of Corsica, Greece, and Turkey, celebrated for its rapid growth, and excellent timber. The Pines or Conifers are usually divided into three sub-orders. I. ABreTiNEx®, comprehending the Firs, Pines, Spruce and Larch tribes, all of which bear cones with one or two inverted ovules at the base of each scale of the cone; pollen oval, and curved. II. Cupressmnm, or Cypress tribe, bearing an indurated globular cone called a gabbulus, with connected scaly ovules, erect, and spheroidal pollen, including the Cypresses and Junipers. III. Taxinem, or Yew tribe, of which Dr. Lindley forms an order (his seventy-fifth). The Taxines bear for fruit a species of drupe, with solitary oval in the centre.

In the first of these divisions the Firs differ from the Pines their cones, which are furnished with thinish scales slightly rounded at the apex, and without the club-like shape, and in their; scattered distichous leaves; such is Abies pectinata, the Silver Fir, from which Strasburg turpentine is extracted; while Burgundy pitch and oil of turpentine are obtained by incision from Pinus sylvestris, which is also a valuable timber for building purpose The Larches (Larix) again differ from the Firs in this: their leaves spring from a bundle of scaly buds, and become at once sc of the leaves; the of the lengthening or solitary in consequence imbrication of the scales of the cone is very loose;the leaves of the Larch are persistent and evergreen during winter. In the male flowers of the Larch, as well as the Cedars and Spruces, each anther a is formed of converted scales analogous to the indurated capi! _ Seale of the females, and therefore each catkin consists ofa _ number of naked male flowers collected about a common @X18-— _ The Larch of Europe attains a height of from ninety a hundred feet; the wood is of a reddish colour, its tissues low oe and considerably harder than that of the Fir-trees, and @ bas pure turpentine, which is used in arts and medicine, oozes outfrom incisions madein its bark. oo The Currussty.x, the type of which the Cedars may be considered, are distinguished from the Larches by their leaves being PS" during several years after the elongation of the bud, and by at oe scales of the cone being more closely imbricated. The Cedars -

Plate IV.—Cedar of Lebanon.

Lebanon (Plate IV.) are trees having an aspect full of grandeur, spreading their vast horizontal arms thirty or forty feet from the stem, which rises forty or fifty feet above the soil. Upon the back of Mount Atlas, in the North of Africa, and in the temperate countries of Asia, the Cedar forms immense forests of a most majestic and imposing aspect. There is indeed no nobler object than the Cedar. “The Lebanon,” say the Arabian poets, ‘‘ bears winter on his head, spring on his shoulders, and autumn in his bosom, while summer sleeps at his feet;” and in confirmation of the truth of the sentiment a few venerable Cedars still remain; they form a beautiful grove on the line of route from Baalbec to the coast. They are large and massy, rearing their heads to an enormous height, and spreading their branches afar; but they have a strangely wild aspect, travellers say, as if wrestling with some invisible person bent on their destruction while life is still strong in them; but they are gradually disappearing. In 1575 there were found twenty-four standing in a circle; in 1630 Fermanil counted twenty-two; there are now seven standing near each other, and a few more almost in a line with them.

‘* Standing in their strength erect, Defying the battled storm.”—Sovruey.

The other plants of which we have spoken belong to a vast Section of the Pinacew, designated under the name of Adiétinee and Cupressine, and presenting a great number of essential Common characters. The trees of which we have now to speak, namely, the Thuja and the Juniper, differ in many respects from the tribe of the Abietines. The Thujas, or Arbor vitas, are mMonecious plants; their male flowers are composed of a filiform _Horal axis, upon which are inserted numerous stamens, which may be likened to nails with which old-fashioned doors are sometimes _ Studded, supporting under their heads foux, unilocular one-celled — anthers. The female flowers are disposed in catkins, each scale of os which bears two erect orthotropal ovules. These soon become fleshy _ eo and consolidated, but when at maturity, they dry up, and in doing so _ ‘Stach themselves and separate, thus setting the pollen grains free eS ” escape. Thujas are evergreen trees with flattened branches __ ‘Tesulting from very small imbricated and compact leaves. In the ~

Arbor vitas the pistil and stamen are in separate flowers on ‘the same tree; the male catkins are terminal and solitary; the pollen of each flower is included in four cases attached to the inner face of the scale towards the base. They are trees or shrubs, natives of Asia, Africa, and America. The Cypress very much resembles the Thujas; they are essentially distinguished from them by their leaves being mere:scales, their cones

_ Fig. 273.—Group of Cypress Trees.

mere bracts, by the seeds being small, angular, and several to ® bract, and by the number of seeds which are pressed into the base of each scale. In the Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) e branches leave the parent stem at a very acute angle, giving o-tree its very peculiar physiognomy. ok is a native shrub, communis) The common Juniper (Juniperus with long, narrow, sharp-pointed leaves, in verticulates of The: palutous, rigid, and almost prickly edged: it is mondcious-

scales of the female catkin, which are not more than six innumber, generally three, are succulent; they present this curious fact, that they become fleshy, and constitute by their scales, representing carpels collected in a spiral round a common axis, a sort of : spherical berry, black or blue, containing ordinarily three bony seeds called botanically Galbuli. In some countries in the North : of Europe these fruits are subjected to fermentation, and a spirit is obtained, known under the name of Gin or Hollands, sometimes Geneva, from the French name Genevre. The Virginian Juniper, also called Red Cedar, furnishes a light odorous wood, with which the cylinders are made in which we enclose the lead of our pencils.. The savin, of stimulating, diuretic, and uterine powers, is extracted fromJ.Sabina. ° The Taxace.x, or Yews, are trees with continuous unarticulated branches; their leaves very close together, entirely veinless, almost di stichous, linear, and sharp pointed, of a deep green colour: flowers dicwcious. The male flowers are composed of an elongated floral axis, upon the whole length of which are inserted a variable number of stamens, which may be said to resemble studs or nails, the connective being the head. On the lower side of this connective, six or eight bilocular anthers are disposed circularly round the filament. The female flowers are solitary and surrounded with imbricated bracts; they consist of a sessile Ovule at the centre of a highly developed disc. When arrived at maturity this disc becomes fleshy, and forms a little cupulate the seeds. The tree then: of a lively red, which loosely envelops ___- *Ppears as if covered with little cherries. These plants occur in . milder climates all over the world, and in elevated situations m the tropics. They are resinous, like Conifers, and possess €xcellent medicinal qualities. They include Salisburia, a tree of great beauty and elegance. | _ +he Greraczam, or Joint Firs, are small trees or sarmentose twiggy shrubs of the temperate parts of Asia, South America, and — a - Europe, with opposite leaves or clustered branches, and thickened ‘eparable articulations. ‘This little family,” says Blume, “ con- ‘Stitutes a part of that natural class of vegetables in which the fertilisation of the ovules takes place immediately, without the aid -Ofstyle or stigma, through the foramen of the ovule itself. From

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