the kernels pounded in a mortar. It is supposed that the account given by Rheede of true sago being the produce of the plant is a mistake. This species also yields a clear transparent gum something like tragacanth, which when dried in the air, coagulates into a gummy mass which is applied to malignant ulcers, in which it excites suppuration in an incredibly short space of time.-Blume.

For an account of the structure of the stem of these plants, see Annales des sciences, 3 ser. III. 193; V. 11. Annals of Natural Hist. XVIII. 358.

Fig. CLIII.-Male plant of Cycas revoluta; a, one of the scales viewed from above; b, the same presenting the lower face, where the anthers grow.

PINACEÆ.

ORDER LXXIV. PINACEAE.-CONIFERS.

[GYMNOGENS.

Coniferæ, Juss. Gen. 411. (1789); Brown in King's Voyage, Appendix, (1825); Rich. Monogr. (1826). -Abietinæ et Cupressinæ, Rich. 1. c. (1826); Bartl. Ord. Nat. 94 et 95. (18301; Endl. Gen. lxxvi. and Ixxvii.: Meisner, p. 352.-Cunninghamiaceæ, Siebold, Fl. Jap. tt. 101, 102.-Conacea, Lindl. Key, No. 232. (1835).

DIAGNOSIS.-Gymnogens with a repeatedly branched continuous stem, simple acerose leaves, and females in cones.

These are noble trees or evergreen shrubs, with a branched trunk abounding in resin. Wood with the ligneous

tissue marked with circular disks. Leaves linear, acerose or lanceolate, entire at the margins; sometimes fascicled in consequence of the non-development of the branch to which they belong; when fascicled, the primordial leaf to which they are then axillary is membranous, and enwraps them like a sheath. Flowers, naked.

monandrous or monadelphous; each floret consisting of a single stamen, or of a few united, collected in a deciduous amentum, about a common rachis; anthers 2-lobed or manylobed, bursting longitudinally; often terminated by a crest, which is an unconverted portion of the scale out of which each stamen is formed; in cones. Ovary spread open, and having the appearance of a flat scale destitute of style or stigma, and arising from the axil of a membranous bract. Ovule naked; in pairs or several, on the face of the ovary, inverted, and consisting of 1 or 2 membranes open at the apex, together with a nucleus. Fruit consisting of a cone

Fig. CLIV --Pinus sylvestris.

Fig. CLV.-1. side view of an anther; 2. carpellary scale and pair of inverted ovules; 3. inside of ripe scale and seeds; 4. section of the seed, minus the wing at its base.

formed of the scale-shaped ovaries, become enlarged and hardened, and occasionally of the bracts also, which are sometimes obliterated, and sometimes extend beyond the scales in the form of a lobed appendage. Seed with a hard crustaceous integument. Embryo in the midst of fleshy oily albumen, with 2 or many opposite cotyledons; the radicle next the apex of the seed, and having an organic connection with the albumen. With the exception of Orchids, there is perhaps no Natural Order the structure of which remained so long and universally misunderstood as that of Conifers. This has arisen from the anomalous nature of their organisation, and from the investigations of botanists not having been conducted with that attention to logical precision which is now found to be indispensable. It is not expedient to enter upon an inquiry into the ideas that botanists have successively entertained upon the subject. Those who are desirous of informing themselves upon that point will find all they can desire in the Appendix to Captain King's Voyage to New Holland, and in Richard's Mémoires sur les Conifères et les Cycadées. It may, however, be useful to advert briefly to the principal theories which have met with advocates. These are, firstly, that the female flowers consist of a bilocular ovary having a style in the form of an external scale, an opinion held by Jussieu, Smith, and Lambert; secondly, that they have a minute cohering perianth, and an external additional envelope called the cupule: this view was taken by Schubert, Mirbel, and others; thirdly, that they have a monosepalous calyx cohering more or less with the ovary, contracted and often tubular at the apex, with a lobed, or glandular, or minute entire limb, an erect ovary, a single pendulous ovule, no style, and a minute sessile stigma: this explanation is that of Richard, published in his Memoir upon the subject in 1826. It appears, however, from the observations of Brown, that the female organ of Conifers is a naked ovule, the integuments of which have been mistaken for floral envelopes, and the apex of whose nucleus has been considered a stigma. About the accuracy of this view there is at this time no difference of opinion. These female organs, or naked ovules, originate from the larger scales of the cone towards their base, and occupy the same relative place in Conifers and in Zamia, a genus of Cycads. Now, as there cannot be any doubt of the perfect analogy that exists between the scales of the cone of Zamia and the fruit-bearing leaves of Cycas, the former differing from the latter only in each being reduced to 2 ovules, and to an undivided state; so there can be no doubt of the equally exact analogy between the scales of Conifers and Zamia, and therefore, the former would be called reduced leaves if the general character of the tribe was to produce a highly developed foliage; but as the foliage of Conifers is in a much more contracted state than the scales of their cones, the latter must be understood to be the leaves of Conifers in a more developed state than usual. That the scales of the cone really are metamorphosed leaves, is apparent not only from this reasoning, but from the following facts. They occupy the same position with respect to the bracts as the leaves do to their membranous sheaths; they surround the axis of growth as leaves do, and usually terminate it; but in some cases, as in the Larch, the axis sometimes elongates beyond them, and leaves them collected round it in the middle. In Araucaria they have absolutely the same structure as the ordinary leaves; and finally, they sometimes assume the common appearance of leaves, as is represented in Richard's Memoir, tab. 12., in the case of a monstrous Abies. The scales of the cones of Conifers and conebearing Cycads are therefore to these Orders, what carpellary leaves are to other plants. Schleiden does not, however, admit the scales of the cone of Abieter to be expanded carpellary leaves. He regards them as no other than the axillary buds of carpellary leaves; they, he says, cannot be the latter, because folium in axilla folii is without example in the whole vegetable world.-Ann. Sc. N. S. xii. 374. We would ask this ingenious anatomist what the fruit of Salix is but folium in axilla folii ?

With regard to the male flowers, it is obvious that in the Larch, the Cedar of Lebanon, the Spruce, and the like, each anther is formed of a partially converted scale, analogous to the indurated carpellary scale of the females; and therefore, each amentum consists of a number of monandrous naked male flowers, collected about a common axis. Some botanists, however, consider each male catkin as a single monadelphous male flower, which is impossible. But in Araucaria, these cavities occupy one side only of an ordinary flat scale. In this genus, and such others as agree with it in structure, the anthers may be considered to consist of an uncertain number of lobes, and in this respect to recede from the usual structure of the male organs of plants: in Conifers, the anthers of which are normal, we have 2; in Juniperus, the like number; in Cunninghamia, but 3 ; in Agathis, 14; and in Araucaria, from 12 to 20. Brown remarks, what is certainly very remarkable, that in Cunninghamia the lobes of the anther agree in number, as well as insertion and direction, with the ovules.-King's Appendix, 32. The same author has noticed a very general tendency in some species of Pinus and Abies to produce several embryos in a seed, (4th Report of Brit. Assoc. 1835, p. 596 :) where also are some curious remarks upon the origin of the embryo in such plants.

Conifers are broken up by many modern botanists into 2 Orders, Abieter and Cupresseæ, the distinctive characters of which are given below. But I regard the cones as the true mark of Conifers, and consequently, such groups as mere divisions of the same Natural Order. Recently, Mr. Bennett has given the weight of his authority in favour of the separation of the two groups, relying upon the pollen of Abieter having a curved oval form, dark granu

Fig. CLVI.

2

whose outer coats are ruptured and thrown off, in consequence of the great capacity for absorbing moisture possessed by the mucous matter surrounding the inner coat. But however beautiful this distinction may be in theory, it is by no means clear that it is of value in practice. Indeed, Mr. Bennett admits, that "it is not always a safe criterion in systematic arrangement ;" and a comparison of his own statements with those of Mohl and others does not increase confidence in its importance. 1, however, admit two well-defined groups, one of which has the ovules inverted and the others erect.

2

Natives of various parts of the world, from the perpetual snows and inclement climate of arctic America, to the hottest regions of the Indian Archipelago. The principal part of the Order is found in temperate countries; in Europe, Siberia, China, and the temperate parts of North America, the species are exceedingly abundant, and have an aspect very different from that of the southern hemisphere. In the former we have various species of Pines, the Larch, the Cedar, Spruce, and Juniper; the place of which is supplied in the latter by Araucarias, Podocarps, Dammars, Eutassas and Dacryds. A Callitris (quadrivalvis) is found on Atlas, and a true Araucaria (Bidwillii) in New Holland. In New Zealand the Dacryds are sometimes no bigger than Mosses.

Fig. CLVII.

No Order can be named of more universal importance to mankind than this, whether we view it with reference to its timber or its secretions. Gigantic in size, rapid in growth, noble in aspect, robust in constitution, these trees form a considerable proportion of woods or plantations in cultivated countries, and of forests where nature remains in temperate countries in a savage state. Their timber, in commerce, is known under the names of Deal, Fir, Pine, and Cedar, and is principally the wood of the Spruce, the Larch, the Scotch Fir, the Weymouth Pine, and the Virginian Cedar: but others are of at least equal, if not greater value. Pinus palustris is the Virginian Pine, so largely employed in the navy for masts. The Stone Pine, and Pinus halepensis (TEUкn, Diosc.) are extensively used by the Greeks in ship-building. The gates of Constantinople, famous for having stood from the time of Constantine to that of Pope Eugene IV., a period of 1100 years, were of Cypress. The wood of Juniperus oxycedrus is supposed to have been that from which the images of their gods were carved by the Greeks; and finally, the Deodar wood of India is all but imperishable. The Norfolk Island Pine is an immense tree, known to botanists as Eutassa (Araucaria) excelsa; the Huon Pine of Tasmannia is Micro cachrys tetragona; the Kawrie Tree of New Zealand, or Dammara australis, attains the height of 200 feet, and yields an invaluable light compact wood, free from knots, from which the finest masts in the navy are now prepared. But they are both surpassed by the stupendous Pines of north-west America, one of which, P. Lambertiana, is reported to attain the height of 230 feet, and the other, Abies Douglasii, to equal or even to exceed it. The latter is probably the most valuable of the whole for its timber. Their secretions consist of various kinds of resinous matter. Oil of turpentine, common and Burgundy pitch, are obtained from Pinus sylvestris; Hungarian balsam from Pinus Fig. CLVI.-Pollen of, 1. Juniperus virginiana; 2. Pinus sylvestris.

Fig. CLVII.-Cupressus sempervirens; 1. a scale of a male cone with pollen; 2. a scale of a female cone with naked ovules; 3. a ripe cone; 4. the same with one of the scales removed.

Pumilio; a most fragrant resin from Araucaria brasiliensis; a hard brittle resin like copal from Dammara australis; Bourdeaux turpentine from P. Pinaster; Carpathian balsam from P. Pinea; Strasburg turpentine from Abies pectinata (P. Picea L.), our Silver Fir; Canadian balsam from Abies balsamea, or the Balm of Gilead Fir. The common Larch yields Venetian turpentine; a saccharine matter called Manna of Briançon exudes from the branches, and when the Larch forests in Russia take fire a gum issues from the trees during their combustion, which is termed Gummi Orenbergense; and which is wholly soluble in water like gum-arabic. Liquid storax is thought to be yielded by the Dammar Pine. Sandarach, a whitish yellow, brittle, inflammable, resinous substance, with an acrid aromatic taste, is said by Thomson to exude from Juniperus communis; but upon the authority of Brongniart and Schousboe, it is the tears of Callitris quadrivalvis. I have seen a plank two feet wide of this Sandarach tree, which is called the Arar Tree in Barbary. The wood is considered by the Turks indestructible, and they use it for the ceilings and floors of their mosques. The substance from which spruce beer is made is an extract of the branches of the Abies canadensis, or Hemlock Spruce, and of Abies nigra. Great tanning powers exist in the bark of the Larch; as great, it is said, as in the Oak. The stimulating diuretic powers of the Savin, Juniperus Sabina, are well known, and are partaken of in some degree by the common Juniper, the diuretic berries of which are an ingredient in flavouring gin; and by the Thuja occidentalis, and Taxodium distichum. Cypress was even once regarded febrifugal, and its oil as anthelmintic. The fetid oil of Juniperus oxycedrus is employed in veterinary practice. The large seeds of many are eatable. Those of the Stone Pine of Europe, Pinus Pinea (the TITUS, Diosc.), Cembra, Lambertiana, Llaveana, and Gerardiana, and Araucaria imbricata, are all eatable when fresh; and Mr. Bidwill found the natives of Moreton Bay feeding on the seeds of the Araucaria Bidwillii called Bunya-Bunya.

Fig. CLVIII-Thuja orientalis; 1. a magnified fragment of a branch bearing a cone of male flowers; 2. a portion of a female branch; 3, 4. scales with naked ovules; 5. a vertical section of a ripe seed.