Needle-like synonyms

The firs are distinguished from the pines and larches by having their needle-like leaves placed singly on the shoots, instead of growing in clusters from a sheath on a dwarf branch.

The form of the leaf shows a very great variety ranging from the narrow linear form with parallel sides, as in grasses or the needle-like leaves of pines and firs to more or less rounded or orbicular - descriptions of these will be found in works on descriptive botany - FIG.

The name Retinospora, therefore, does not stand for a true genus, but denotes persistent young forms of Juniperus, Thuja, Cupressus, &c., in which the small scaly leaves of ordinary species are replaced by the slender, needle-like leaves, which stand out more or less at right angles from the branches.