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283 



wild specimens which had originated as seedlings in Prussian 

 forests. One of these was estimated in 1873 to be about 38 years 

 old and was 6-7 metres in height and 7 metres through. Neigh- 

 bouring trees of the same species and age had branches of the 

 seventh and eighth degree of subdivision, but the variety in 



question had only branches of the third, very rarely of the fourth 

 order. 



w nated nearly fifty years ago in Mr. 

 Cranston's Nursery at Hereford. To the gentleman named I 

 am indebted for the information that the plant was first observed 

 among a bed of seedling Spruce Firs and was planted out and 

 propagated by grafting *. The occurrence of this form in a bed 

 of seedlings of the ordinary character shows that recent external 

 conditions were not instrumental in producing the variation, else 

 all, or a majority, of the seedliugs would have been affected in the 

 same way. The majority of seedlings produced from a tree of 

 this description at Lilienfeld are of the ordinary character, and 

 only a few reproduce the habit of the parent. A tree of similar 

 character exists in the nursery of Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, & Co., 

 of Exeter, and has produced cones one of which was kindly sent 



to me. 



t 









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Mr. Heale informed me that in 1887 the tree in question at Hereford 

 measured 23 feet 6 inches in height, and about 15 feet in diameter. 



t The following references apply to the Snak6-fir or similar forms : — Loudon, 

 Arboretum, iv. p. 2295 (Abies (Picea) excelsa monstrosa) : Jacques in Ann. Soc. 

 Hort. Paris (1853), vol. xlvii. p. 652 (A. excelsa, v&r.virgata) : Carriere, Revue 

 Horticole (1854), torn. iii. p. 101 ; Traite Generate, ed. 2 (1867), p. 331 (Picea 

 excelsa denudata): Koch, Dendrologie, ii. (1873), p. 237, wherein numerous 

 references to ancient literature are given : Gordon, Pinetum, ed. 2 (1875), p. 10 

 (Abies excelsa Cranstoni): Oaspary in Schrift. d. pbys.-okon. Gesellsch. z. 

 KGnigsberg (January 14, 1873), 116 ff. 123 ff. (Picea excelsa, Link, var. 

 virgata) : Willkomm, Forsti. Flora, ed. 2, 1886, p. 75. Koch in his ' Dendrologi*/ 

 above cited, comprises the vars. virgata and Cranstoni with the Pinus viminalis 

 of Alstroemer (1777), a form with long, slender, pendulous branches, described by 

 Caspary m Schrift. d. phys.-okon. Ges. zu Konigsberg, xix. (1878), t. 5, as Picea 

 excelsa, Link, var. viminalis, Casp. ; see also in ' Garten Flora,' 1887, pp. 469, 

 552, 1889, pp. 136, 657: Schubeler, Pflanzenwelc Norwegens (fig. 27, p. 161), 

 %ures under this name a form intermediate between those above-mentioned. 

 C * Wil helm in Sitzungsb. d. k. k. zool.-bot. Gesellsch. in Wien, Bd. xxxvii. 

 ( p eb. 9, 1887); Graf, Fr., Berg, "Einige Spielarten der Fichte, Schlangen- 

 fic nte ; astlose Fichte (loosely branched) ; pyramidale Fichte ; Trauerfichte 

 (mournful fir) ; Hangefichte (pendulous) ; Kugelfichte (globular) ; Krummfichte 

 (crooked) or Sumpfichte (swamp-fir); nordische Fichte (P. obovata)" Naturf. 

 Gesellsch. f. d. Univ. Dorpat, ii. 8vo, 44 pp. ; rait 12 Tafeln, Dorpat, 1887 : ex 

 Jt ' C entralblatt, Band xxxii. 12, no. 51, 1887. 











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