De I. VNER VEW D Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope

FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE.
GYMNOSPERMAE.
The Gymnosperms are technically distinguished from other seed-bearing trees
by having their ovules borne naked or without the usual covering provided in
other trees. They have resinous wood formed in concentric rings, which are
laid on each year, one outside of the preceding one, and just beneath the bark.
As with other classes of our trees which grow in this manner, the age can be
accurately told by counting the rings shown on a cross-section of the stem at
the ground just above where the root is given off. Some of these trees bear
male and female flowers separately on different branches of the same tree,
and some bear male flowers on one tree and female flowers on a different tree.
The male flowers produce pollen (resembling yellowish powder) in large quantities
and the wind conveys it to the female or fruit ("seed") bearing flowers
for the purpose of fertilization. It is light and easily blown by wind for 50
or more yards. According to the character of their fruits, Gymnosperms are
divided into two families, Coniferve (cone-bearers), and Taxacete (yew-like).
Family CONIFERJE.
This family includes the pines (Pinus), spruces (Picea), larches or true
tamaracks (Lariix), hemlocks (Isuga), false or bastard hemlocks (Pseudotsuga),
firs or "balsam trees" (Abies), "bald" cypress (Taxodium), arborvittes
or "cedars" (Thuja), true cypresses (Cupressus and Charnaxcyparis),
redwood and bigtree (Sequoia), and junipers or " cedars " (Juniperus). In
all but the last group these trees bear a fruit which is a distinctly woody cone,
with from two to several naked seeds under each of its overlapping or otherwise
closed scales. The junipers produce a berry-like fruit, which, though not
woody, is, however, morphologically a cone. The seeds of most conifers have
a thin wing which helps them greatly to be scattered by the wind far from the
parent tree, and so provides for their reproduction over a wide area. The seeds
of some conifers have no wing, or merely-a rudimentary one. The berry-like
fruits of the junipers are largely dependent for their distribution upon birds
which eat them and upon flood waters which distribute them. The hard seed
loses only its pulpy coating by being eaten. The leaves of conifers are small
and scale-like, or long and needle-like. In all but the bald cypresses (Taxodium)
and larches (Larix), the leaves remain on the trees for several years,
which has given them the names of " evergreens." The seed leaves (cotyledons)
number from 2 to about 18.
PINIS. PINES.
The pines are all evergreen trees. Their branches are more or less thickly
clothed with clusters of needle-like leaves in bundles of two, three, four, or five.
One species has solitary leaves. New leaves are formed each year on the young
twigs which lengthen the previous year's growth. The leaves produced in a
season may remain on the tree from two to six or eight years. They die and
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