Properties and Uses. The resin, Douglas observes, "which exudes from the trees of P. Lambertiana, when they are partly burned, loses its usual flavour, and acquires a sweet taste; in which state it is used by the natives as sugar, being mixed with their food. The seeds are eaten roasted, or are pounded into coarse cakes for their winter store. I have, since my return, been informed by Mr. Menzies, that, when he was on the coast of California with Captain Vancouver, in 1793, seeds of a large pine, resembling those of the stone pine, were served at the dessert by the Spanish priests resident there. These were, no doubt, the produce of the species now noticed. The vernacular name of it in the language of the Umptqua Indians, is nát-cleh.” (Ibid., p. 499.) ↑ 42. P. (S.) MONTI COLA Dougl. The Mountain, or short-leaved Weymouth, Pine. Identification. Lamb. Pin. ed. 2., vol. 2., after P. Sabiniana, S. t. 87. Engravings. Lamb. Pin., S. t. 87., and our figs. 2208. and 2209., from Douglas's specimens in the herbarium of the Horticultural Society. Spec. Charac., &c. at 2208 rocky banks of the Spokan river. Discovered by Douglas, and intro duced in 1831. Description, &c. A resinous tree, with brownish-coloured bark. Leaves in fives, triquetrous, obtuse; bicanaliculate above, carinate below, with a blunt elevated line; obsoletely crenulated on the margin; smoothish, glaucous green; 1 in. to 3 in. long. Sheaths imbricated with elliptic-oblong, obtuse, thinly membranaceous, loose, bright brown scales, quickly falling off. Cones cylindrical, smooth, 6 in. to 8 in. long, generally in whorls; scales spathulate, apiculate; slightly convex beneath, dark ash-yellow. Seeds oval, with a crustaceous testa; wing hatchet-shaped, obtuse, striated, dull yellow, shining. (Lamb.) Except in its much shorter and smoother leaves, this species differs but little from P. Stròbus, of which it may prove to be only a variety; but, until an opportunity occurs of examining the male catkins, and ascertaining other particulars, it is considered best to keep it distinct. Judging from the appearance of the specimens sent home by Douglas, the tree must abound in resin. The plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden is only a few inches high. Among Douglas's specimens, there is a variety with red cones, from which no plants have yet been raised. App. i. Species of Pine which are not yet introduced, and of which little is known. P. contorta Douglas. The twisted-branched Pine. Buds roundish, with a blunt point, covered with resin, and brown. Leaves 2 in a sheath, 2 in. long; sheath very short, imbricated, black. Cones from 2 in. to 24 in. long; and from in. to 1 in. broad; scales with the apices having a depressed lateral rib, terminating in a blunt point, furnished with a caducous mucro. The shoots are regularly and + closely covered with leaves, much in P. squamosa Bosc does not appear cous, shorter, stiffer, and less numerous, than those of P. sylvestris. The buds are large, obtuse, and very resinous; and the cones; which are of a clear brown colour, are shorter and smaller than those of P. s. genevénsis. The pyramidal points of the scales are long, and bent backwards. It is a native of the Lower Alps; and there are plants in the Jardin des Plantes, and in some of the French nurseries. It is, in all probability, a variety of P. sylvestris, though Bosc considers it a distinct species. (Nouv. Cours d'Agric., art. Pin.) P. turbinata Bosc has the leaves 2 in a sheath, slightly glaucous, scarcely 1 in. long. The buds are very small, reddish, fringed, and not resinous. The cones are in whorls from 2 to 5 together, sharply pointed, longer than the leaves, with the scales almost square, and not pyramidal. Bosc thinks that it is probably a native of North America; but his description is taken from a tree in the garden of the Petit Trianon, about 40 ft. high, the only one he had seen. He adds that its general appearance resembles that of P. mitis; but it differs in its leaves being much shorter, and its cones being without spines. ABIES D. Don. GENUS II. AA THE SPRUCE FIR. Lin. Syst. Mono'cia Monadélphia. Identification. D. Don in Lamb. Pin., vol. iii. Synonymes. Pinus of Lin. and others, in part; Picea Link in Abhand. König. Akad. Wissens. Berlin, p. 179., for 1827; Abies of Tourn., Mill., and others, in part; Picea of the Ancients; Sapin épicea, Fr.; Fichtenbaum, Ger. ; Abiete, Ital.; Abieto, Span. Derivation. From abeo, to rise; alluding to the aspiring habit of growth of the tree; or, according to some, from apíos, a pear tree; in allusion to the form of the fruit. Description. Evergreen trees; natives of Europe, Asia, and America; remarkable for their tall, erect, pyramidal forms, and profusion of foliage. One or more species are useful, and the rest ornamental. In Britain, they flower in May and June, and ripen their cones in the spring of the following year. All the species bear seeds at a comparatively early age; and all of them may be readily propagated by cuttings taken off in the spring, according to Dumont De Courset; or in autumn, according to the practice of British gardeners. All the species hitherto introduced are quite hardy in British gardens. The genus, taking it altogether, is so truly natural, that, without any great violence, all the different kinds of which it is composed might be reduced to three or four species. Sect. i. Leaves tetragonal, awl-shaped, scattered in Insertion. (D. Don.) 1. A. EXCE'LSA Dec. The lofty, or Norway, Spruce Fir. Identification. Dec. Fl. Fr., 3.; Poir. Dict. Encyc., 6. p. 518.; N. Du Ham., 6. p. 289. Synonymes. A. communis Hort.; Abies Picea Mill. Dict., No. 2, Micha. N. Amer. Syl., 3. p. 172.; 4. foliis solitàriis, &c., Lin. Hort. Cliff, 449., Fl. Suec., ed. 1., p. 879., Fl. Lapp., ed. 1., No. 347., Gmel. Sib., 1. p. 175.; Pinus A'bies Lin. Sp. Pl., 1421., Syst., ed. Reich., 4. p. 177., Fl. Suec., No. 875., Lapp., No. 347., Huds. Angl., 424., Hunt. Evel. Syl., p. 266., Fl. Dan., t. 193., Pall. Fl. Ross., 1. p. 6., Allion. Fl. Ped., 2. p. 180., Vill. Dauph., 3. p. 810., Ait. Hort. Kew., 3. p. 371., Willd. Berol. Baumz., p. 221., Smith in Rees's Cyc., No. 20., Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., 1. t. 35., Höss Anleit., p. 21.; P. Picea Du Roi Harbk., ed. Pott., 2. p. 156.; P. foliis solitàriis, &c., Hall. Helv., No. 1656.; P. excélsa Lam. Fl. Fr., ed. 1., 2. p. 202.; common Spruce, Prussian Fir; faux Sapin, E'picea, Sapin-Pesse, Serente, Sapin gentil, Pinesse, Fr.; Lafie, in the Vosges; gemeine rothe Tanne, Ger. Engravings. Nov. Act. Ac. N. Cur., 3., App., t. 14. f. 5. 10., and t. 16. f. 1. 10.; Blackw., t. 198.; Fl. Dan., t. 193.; Pall. Fl. Ross., 1. t. 1. f. G.; Wood. Med. Bot., t. 208.; Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., 1. t. 35. ; N. Du Ham., 6. t. 80.; Michx. N. Amer. Syl., 3. t. 146.; our fig. 2212.; and the plates of this tree in our last Volume. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves scattered, quadrangular. Cones cylindrical, terminal, pendent; scales naked, truncate at the summit, flat. Crest of the anthers rounded. (Lois.) Cone from 5 in. to 7 in. long, and from 14 in. to 2 in. broad; scale from 1 in. to 1 in. long, and from in. to in. broad. Seed very small, scarcely in. long, and in. broad; with the wing, in. long, and in. broad. Cotyledons 7 to 9. Indigenous to the north of Europe, more particularly to Norway; and in cultivation in Britain since 1548. Varieties. ? A. e. 1 communis. The common Spruce, or White Fir of Norway.-The foliage is shorter, more slender, and lighter-coloured, than in the following form; though the difference may be in part owing to soil and situation. In Norway, as we are informed by Mr. White, the inhabitants make a distinction between the white and the red spruce: the former grows on light poor soils, and in elevated situations, and has a lighter foliage, and white wood; the latter grows in more substantial soils, in the valleys, and has a darker stronger foliage, and red wood, which is more resinous, and of much greater strength and durability. 1 A. e. 2 nigra. The black-leaved Spruce, or Red Fir of Norway.-There is a tree in Studley Park, known there as the black spruce, of which a portrait is given in our last Volume. In the foliage, it answers to the description given of the red fir of Norway; its leaves being very thick, strong, and dark-coloured; its bark red; and its cones longer than those of the common spruce. The leaves, in the specimen sent to us, are 14 in. in length; and the cones from 5 in. to 6 in. long, and from 14 in. to 1 in. broad. The scales (see fig. 2213.) are much more pointed than those of the common spruce, and longer. The tree at Studley is 121 ft. high; and, from its dense mass of dark foliage, it is considered a much finer tree than the common spruce. 221 A. e. 3 carpática; A. carpática Hort. and Loud Hort. Brit. The Carpathian Spruce.-This variet has vigorous shoots, and foliage as dense and long as that of the preceding, but lighter. There is a tree at Dropmore, which in 1837, after being five or six years planted, was nearly 6 ft. high. 1 A. e. 4 péndula; A. commùnis péndula Booth; Pinus A'bies péndula Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. The pendulous, or weeping, branched Norway Spruce. This is distinguished from the species by the drooping habit of its branches; and also by the darker glossy green colour, and greater length, of its leaves. There is a plant in the Hackney arboretum 5ft. high, the shoots of which are somewhat pendulous. 1 A. e. 5 folüs variegatis, P. A. fòliis variegàtis Lodd. Cat., has the leaves blotched with yellow, and forms a more compact dwarf-growing tree than the species. There is a plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden, 8 years planted, which is 7 ft. high. A. e. 6 Clanbrasiliana; P. Clanbrassilàna Lodd. Cat., ed. 1837; is a low, compact, round bush, seldom seen higher than 3 ft. or 4 ft., and never, that we have heard of, producing either male or female blossoms. The annual shoots are from 1 in. to 3 in. or 4 in. in length; the leaves from in. to in. long; and their colour is lighter than that of the species. The original plant is said to have been found on the estate of Moira, near Belfast, probably about the end of the last century; and to have been first introduced into Great Britain by Lord Clanbrasil; whence the specific name. The largest plant that we know of in the neighbourhood of London is at Cashiobury, near Watford; where, in 1837, it was 3 ft. 6 in. high, having been 30 years planted; at Kenwood, Hampstead, it is 3 ft. high, after being 8 years planted; at Dropmore, it is 2 ft. 6 in. high; and in the Horticultural Society's Garden, after being 10 years planted, it is 3 ft. high. At Cranmore, near Belfast, it is 3 ft. high; diameter of the stem 2 in., and of the head 3 ft. It appears to us very doubtful whether such a stunted variety as this was ever found in a bed of seedlings: we think it much more probable that it is a continuation by cuttings of one of those bird-nest-like monstrosities that are occasionally found on all trees, and which are to be met with on several trees of the common spruce at Pain's Hill, and various other places. A. e. Clanbrasiliana, like the other varieties of the spruce fir, is readily propagated by cuttings, and makes a beautiful little fir for growing in a pot. A e. 7 Clanbrasiliàna stricta.—This variety was found in the park at Florence Court, by Mr. Young, gardener there, who sent us a drawing of the bush, and a specimen, in 1834. The bush has a clear stem of about 1 ft. in height; the head is of a narrow ovate conical form; and the shoots are of upright rapid growth; forming, Mr. Young observes, a very beautiful shrub for a lawn, Plants of it have been sent, by Mr. Young, to Mr. Knight of the Exotic Nursery, King's Road, and to Messrs. Smith, nurserymen, Ayr. A. e. 8 pygmæ`a, A. nàna in the Horticultural Society's Garden, A. élegans Smith of Ayr, is said to be a dwarfer plant than A. e. Clanbrasiliana. A specimen in the Horticultural Society's Garden, 2 years planted, was, in 1837, 6 in. high. ■ A. e. 9 tenuifòlia, A. tenuifòlia Smith of Ayr, has very slender leaves and shoots. A plant in the Hackney arboretum is 1 ft. high. ↑ A. e. 10 gigantèa, A. gigantèa Smith of Ayr.—There is a plant at Messrs. Loddiges's 1 ft. high, with leaves rather larger and stronger than those of the species. A. e. 11 monstròsa, A. monstròsa Hort., has the shoots and leaves thicker than those of the species, and is said never to make any lateral branches. The plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden, after having been 12 years planted, consists of a single, upright, unnaturallooking, thickened shoot, 3 ft. in length, and densely covered with leaves. Other Varieties. Bosc mentions a variety which was cultivated in the royal nurseries at Paris, and had been sent thither from the Vosges. It had the leaves flatter and more pointed than the common spruce, and different cones. Bosc says that this kind might, perhaps, form a distinct species; but that the plant was torn up when the royal nursery in which it grew was destroyed, and he had neglected previously to describe it. Hayes speaks of a seminal variety of the spruce, which has been denominated the long-coned Cornish fir, the cones being frequently nearly 1 ft. long; and of which, in the year 1790, there was a fine tree in the park of Avondale, in the county of Wicklow. (Pract. Treat., p. 165.) Linnæus has five varieties in his Flora Suecica; but, as we are not aware of their having been propagated in British nurseries, we have not enumerated them. According to Gartner, the species is exhibited in two forms, called the white and the red Norway spruce; one with pale, and the other with deepcoloured, cones; but the timber of both is white. Although these distinctions are not known in British gardens, we have thought it right to direct attention to them. Description. The Norway spruce fir is the loftiest of European trees, attaining the height of from 125 ft. to 150 ft., or even, in some cases, 180 ft.; with a very straight upright trunk, from 2 ft. to 6 ft. in diameter; and widely extending branches, which spread out regularly on every side, so as to form a cone-like or pyramidal shape, terminating in a straight arrow |