Note 150 — Chapter VI · (continued 2)

I subjoin a definition of the genera Pinus and Abies, for the use of the student.

Pinus.—Fruit-catkins ovate, roundish, or cylindrical closely set with thick two-flowered scales; forming an imbricated cone, composed of numerous ligneous angular, or flat, rigid scales, having attached to the inside of each two seeds crowned with a thin membraneous, falcate, oblong, or roundish wing; the scales are composed of a thick woody substance, forming an angular surface, with a recurved point. The Pines are evergreen trees, with from two to five narrow, angular leaves springing from each sheath. Cotyledons four to twelve.

Abies.—Cones with thin flat scales, which are more membranous at the extremities than in Pines: the leaves are emarginate, short solitary, needle-shaped, angular or flat.