This genus consists of only three species, which are easily distinguished from the other Abietineæ by their losing their leaves every winter. The common Larch (_Larix europæa_) is a very handsome tree, with drooping branches, and foliage of a yellowish green, which dies off of a red tinge in autumn. The leaves are linear, and they are produced in tufts in a sort of woody sheath, some of them appearing in the same sheath with the female catkins. The male catkins are smaller, but appear in the same manner. The cones are small, and show the dorsal bracts when young, but when ripe they are seldom visible. The seeds are winged, and so very small, that it appears wonderful that a tree frequently above a hundred feet high can spring from them. The cones are of a bright red when young, but they become brown when ripe. The Larch grows very rapidly, and in situations where no other tree would thrive. Its wood is very valuable, and its bark is nearly as useful for tanning as that of the oak. The trees, however, in some situations are subject to a disease called pumping, by which the centre of the trunk becomes as hollow as though it were intended for a pump. The sap of the Larch produces the Venice turpentine; and in some parts of France a kind of gum, called the Manne de Briançon, which is used medicinally, is collected from the leaves. THE GENUS CEDRUS.—THE CEDAR. There are only two species in this genus, the Cedar of Lebanon (_Cedrus Libani_), and the Deodar (_C. Deodara_). The male catkins of the Cedar of Lebanon are produced singly, and each scale has a large crest. The cones are ovate, and the scales, which are very short and broad, fall with the seeds, in the same manner as those of the Silver Fir. The leaves resemble those of the Larch, but they are not deciduous. The male and female catkins are very often on different plants; and the trees attain a considerable age before they produce perfect seeds. The Cedar is remarkable for the enormous size of its branches, and for the shelf-like character they assume. The tree in a living state lasts several centuries, but the wood is of a very coarse grain and not at all durable; and though the resin appears so abundant in the cones as to ooze through the scales, there is so little in the trunk that it is never used for turpentine.