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DE. M. T. MASTERS ON THE MORPHOLOGY, 





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base, but retain their many-ranked arrangement and do not 

 become pseudo-distichous, and in the size of the leaves, which is 

 generally less than usual. The total leaf-surface may indeed not 

 be actually less than in the ordinary form, but it is more broken 

 up and scattered to secure insolation from various directions, 



„ M r ori- 



zontal plane, the exposed surface lies in the same plane to fit the 

 circumstances. 



Schiibeler * figures a lofty tree of the Common Spruce in which 

 the lateral branches, instead of being deflexed or horizontal, 

 ascend to form au oblong head in place of the usual conical one. 

 Such firs are known to the German foresters as " Spitz Firs." 



Pendulous forms are brought about by the downward curva- 

 ture of the shoots. 



Occasionally the branches in one part of the tree are arranged 

 in one direction, while in another the disposition is different. Thus 

 in a tree, a representation of which is given in the ' Garten Flora 

 for 1887, August 15, the upper branches are bent down against 

 the trunk, while the lower ones spread in the usual manner. It 

 is curious to compare this different arrangement of the branches 

 with the corresponding variation in the direction of the seed-scales 

 of the same cone observed by the late Alexander Braun f. 



Great differences of appearance result also from variations in 

 the amount of branching. In the now commonly cultivated Aran- 

 carta imlricata the amount of branching in the young state is rela- 

 tively little secondary, the branches being few and far between. 

 In some exceptional forms of the Common Spruce (Picea excelsa) 

 this relatively slight degree of ramification produces a remarkable 

 appearance. The slender trunk gives off at remote intervals very 

 long simple branches which hang down ; the lower ones, as it were, 

 writhing on the ground like so many serpents, hence the German 

 name of Schlangenfichte. It is interesting to note that in these 

 little-branched trees the leaves are of unusually large size, as it 

 to make up for the small leaf-surface due to the relative scarcity 

 of branches. 

















































Personally I have only seen cultivated specimens propagated 

 by grafting; but the late Professor Caspary, of Konigsberg, 

 obligingly informed me that he had seen at various times several 



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* Schiibeler, Pflanzenwelt Norwegens, fig. 32. 



t Braun in Sitzungsb. Bot. Verein. Brandenburg, June 26, 1874 ; scales in 

 upper half of cone deflexed, those in the lo^er portion ascending. 











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