Conifers are broken up by many modern botanists into 2 Orders, Abietes 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

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. I, 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.

The genus Saxe-Gothæa forms a transition of the most remarkable kind from Conifers to Taxads. Sir William Hooker regarded it as a Podocarp with flowers in a cone. It is in reality a genus with the male flowers of a Podocarp, the females of a Dammar, the fruit of a Juniper, the seed of a Dacrydium, and the habit of a Yew.

The timber of the Zadd or Théda of Abyssinia, Juniperus procera, one of the largest trees of that country, is hard, durable, and much employed in construction there. It is very nearly the same, if really different, as Juniperus phoenicea.-Ach. Rich.

That the plants of this order are sometimes poisonous, like Taxads, is now certain. Two children were poisoned a few years since at Chichester, from swallowing the leaves of what was called at the inquest Male Cypress, but which I ascertained, from evidence furnished by Mr. Buckell, to be Cupressus Thyoides.

Fig. CLVIII. a.-Cone of Pinus muricata, showing the difference between the outer and inner sides of the same strobilus when the inner side is pressed against a branch. 1. A pair of leaves; 2. the end of the leaf magnified; 3. a seed, natural size.

Fig. CLVIII. b.-Saxe-Gothea conspicua; 1. male spike; 2. anther; 3. scale of galbulus with ovule; 4. ripe galbulus.

Taxineæ, Rich. Conif. 124. (1826); Bartl. Ord. Nat. 95. (1830); Martius Conspectus, No. 58. (1835); Endl. Gen. lxxviii.; Meisner, p. 353.-Taxaceæ, Ed. pr. (1836).

DIAGNOSIS.-Gymnogens with repeatedly branched continuous stems, simple leaves often fork-veined, solitary females, 2-celled anthers opening longitudinally, and the membrane next the nucleus inclosed.

Trees or shrubs with continuous, unarticulated branches. Wood having the ligneous tissue marked with circular disks. Leaves usually narrow, rigid, entire and veinless, evergreen, alternate or distichous; sometimes dilated and lobed, and in those cases having forked veins of equal thickness. Flowers, naked, but surrounded by imbricated bracts. Stamens several; filaments usually monadelphous; anthers combined or distinct, opening longitudinally. solitary. Ovules naked, the foramen at their apex, their outer skin becoming finally hard. Seed usually supported or surrounded by a succulent imperfect cup-shaped pericarp. Albumen fleshy. Embryo straight, dicotyledonous, either antitropal or orthotropal.

of

Fig. CLX.

Yews are separated from Conifers by their fruits. not being collected in cones, each ovule growing singly, unprotected by hardened scales; so that this is a degree of organization yet lower than that of Conifers themselves. It is also to be observed, that in this Order the leaves do not always preserve the veinless needle-shaped state of Conifers, but expand and form veins, which are then forked and of uniform thickness, just as in Ferns. To me it appears that this deviation on the part of many genera from the Coniferous form of fruit, is a good practical distinction. Mr. Bennett, however, is of opinion that Taxads should not form a distinct Natural Order, but ought to be associated with Conifers; at least such I presume to be the bearing of his observations in Horsfield's Planta Javanica, p. 37. In the opinion of this excellent botanist, Taxus belongs to Cupresseæ, while Podocarpus and Dacrydium should be associated with Abieteæ, an opinion to which he seems to be led, in part at least, by considerations connected with the pollen of those plants. What these peculiarities of the pollen are, is explained at p. 228. But I see no reason why two kinds of pollen should not be comprehended under the Order of Taxads as well as under Conifers; and the importance of distinctions in the pollen of plants appears to me to be at least very doubtful.

Fig. CLIX.-Taxus baccata loaded with male flowers; 1. a male flower; 2. an anther; 3. a female flower; 4. a vertical section of an ovule; 5. of a ripe fruit; 6. of a ripe seed, showing the embryo.N.B. 4. and 6. are the same part in youth and age; 5. is the ripe ovule, with an accessory cup.

Fig. CLX.-Perpendicular section of the ripe fruit of Taxus, together with the cup-shaped pericarp, which rises round it after the pollen has taken effect upon the ovule.