The Conelet. Plate III, Figs. 40-45
After pollination the pistillate flower closes and becomes the conelet, the staminate flowers withering and falling away. The conelet makes no appreciable growth until the following year. Like the pistillate flower it may be subterminal or lateral, but a subterminal pistillate flower may become a pseudolateral conelet by reason of a summer-growth (fig. 40-a). Such a condition may be recognized on the branchlets of the present, and of the previous year (fig. 40-b), by the very short internode and short leaves beyond the fruit.
The conelet offers some distinctions of form, of color, and of length of peduncle, while in some species (sylvestris, caribaea, etc.) its reflexed position is an important specific character. The most important distinctions, however, are found in its scales, which may be
| 1. entire | subsection Cembra | fig. 41. |
| 2. tuberculate | tropicalis, etc. | fig. 42. |
| 3. short-mucronate | sylvestris, glabra, etc. | fig. 43. |
| 4. long-mucronate | aristata, contorta, etc. | fig. 44. |
| 5. spinescent | taeda, pungens, etc. | fig. 45. |