Order 2. =Abietaceæ (Pine and Fir Trees).= The leaves are spirally arranged and needle-like. The flowers are _monœcious_. The male flowers are long, and catkin-like, with numerous stamens, each bearing two _oblong pollen-sacs_. The pollen-grains are most frequently tri-lobed, having two bladder-like appendages, formed as outgrowths of the exospore, to assist in their distribution by the wind (Fig. 267 _N_). The bracts are arranged spirally. The union between the bract and the ovuliferous scale, which is found in the preceding order, is not in this instance so complete; these scales make their appearance as two free parts, and are attached only at their bases (Fig. 268); the lower portion, that is the cover-scale, in most instances remains quite small (Fir, Red Pine, and others), it is only in the “Noble Pine” (_Abies_) and _Pseudotsuga douglasii_, that it attains a greater length than the ovuliferous scale (Fig. 267, _B-G_). On the other hand the upper part, _the ovuliferous scale_ (the vascular bundles of which have the bast turned upwards), grows strongly and elongates, especially after fertilisation, becoming woody or leathery; it is commonly termed the “_cone-scale_,” but is in reality only homologous with a part of the “cone-scale” in the other order of Pinoideæ. On the side of the ovuliferous scale, turned towards the axis, are situated _two ovules_ with micropyles _directed inwards_. The seeds are most frequently provided with _a false wing_ (a tissue-like part of the surface of the ovuliferous scale). Cotyledons, _more than_ 2, _verticillate_. _Fertilisation does not take place until some time after pollination._ In _Pinus_, for instance, the pollen-tube only penetrates the nucellus for a short distance during the year of pollination, and then ceases its further growth, fertilisation not taking place until after the middle of the next year; whilst the seeds ripen about a year and a half after pollination. In the Larch and others, the seeds are mature in the autumn succeeding pollination. [Illustration: FIG. 268.--_A Abies_: _c_ the cover-scale; _s_ ovuliferous scale, or “cone-scale”; _sk_ ovules in a young condition. _B Pinus_: ovuliferous scale with two ovules (_s_); _m_ the two-lobed micropyle; _c_ “mucro”; _b_ the cover-scale behind. _C Abies_: ripe “cone-scale” with two seeds (_sa_); _f_ wing of seed.]