CONIFERS GROWN IN SUBURBAN GARDENS 163
The structure of the wood of conifers is simple, since there
are no vessels, or continuous tubes for conveying water, as in
true flowering plants, but it consists of cells, tracheides, whose
walls are marked with the characteristic "bordered pits";
these pits may be compared to little round windows, with thin
window-panes permeable to water, protected on both inner and
outer sides by deeply projecting circular frames. To quote from
Dr. Scott's "Structural Botany":—"We must remember that
the tracheides are closed cells, so that no communication is pos-
sible between them, except through their pits. The whole of
the water which goes up a fir tree has to pass through the bordered
pits thousands of times on its journey from the roots to the leaves.
The structure of the wood is not an adaptation to external con-
ditions, but is an inherited or phyletic character." It is clear
therefore, that apart from climate, coniferous trees are unable from
their structure to allow a rapid flow of water through the wood.
After this short general sketch of conifers, we may now con-
sider some of the species growing in our district.
Araucaria imbricata, the "monkey puzzle," occurs in many
gardens, always suffering from the deposit left by smoke on its
leaves; the finest tree near is about thirty feet high. In its
native land, high on the Andes of the Argentine and Chili, it
is a noble tree, forming vast forests, with tall, bare stems, and
dense crowns of foliage, and attaining a height of 150 feet, and
a girth of 18 feet. Prof. Seward, in his "Fossil Plants," writes:—
"There are few existing trees comparable with these venerable
types in the impression they produce of the lapse of ages, and
the vicissitudes of a dwindled race." For long ago, in the Jurassic
period of geological time, this ancient family of Araucarias, which
is now only scattered through parts of the southern hemisphere,
was widely represented in both hemispheres, and was well repre-
sented in English woodlands. It is probable that the jet for which
Whitby is famed was to some extent formed from Araucarian
wood. The name is derived from the Araucarians, a tribe of
South American Indians, who pride themselves on their name,
for it means "frank" or "free." To them the tree is a friend,
for they use its hard durable wood, they eat its nuts, either raw
or cooked, and from them they distil a spirit, which, in their
inclement climate, may make a welcome alternative to water
on festive occasions.