TO THE HISTORY Ol- CEllTATIs' C0:NIFE11S. 193 



VA. nohilis. Dli reste ces plant os paraissent tres-variables, 

 de sorte que, dans un semis, on pourrait facilement en faire 

 plusieurs variotes tres-distinctes, mais qui, peut-etre, per- 

 draient pen a peu lenrs caraeteres exceptionuels. Keaa- 

 moins VA. nohilis rohtisia^ beaucoup plus facile a elever que 

 VA. nobilis^ est bien preferable a celui-ci ; aussi tend-il a le 

 remplacer." 



The magnifica of Englisli gardens agrees with this descrip- 

 tion, and is noticeable for its robust habit and formal whorls. 

 The leaves on the leading shoot are appressed spirally around 

 the stem, and often stouter than those on the lateral 

 branches. 



A, magnifica and A, nohilis rohnsfa of gardens (for with- 

 out cones they cannot be sepnrated) difter in habit from 

 A, 72ohili8j being much more formal and rigid in the mode of 

 growth; the branches are more nearly of equal length, and 

 the leaves on the sterile branches longer, straighter, and 

 more slender than in nohilis. Sir John Walrond writes of 

 one of his trees that " for several years the lower branches 

 feathered to the ground and grew in regular formal whorls, 

 so that the tree was perfect and symmetrical throughout. 

 For some years, however, tlie lower branches have died off, 

 now leaving one third of the trutdv bare, although there is 

 no want of healthv vi":our above. These trees have never 

 shown signs of coning, though all those of A, nohilis have 

 done so freely." A. magnifica starts into growth in this 

 country much later than A, nohilis^ and is therefore less 

 liable to injury from frost. If what is above said be correct, 

 it would seem that both forms extend northwards into 

 Oregon, but that the typical nohilis is replaced in the south 

 by the magnifica form. Assuredly the character of the four- 

 sided and ungrooved, as contrasted with the flat and grooved 

 leaves (PL lY., top fig.)? cannot be entirely depended on any 

 more than the size, proportion, and form of the scales and 

 bracts. The habit in gardens is certainly different. Inter- 

 mediate forms, however, occur, one of the most remarliable 

 of which is that figured in PL V., and received from 

 Mr, Heale, the obliging manager of the Cranston Nursery 

 Company. In this specimen the habit and the foliage are, 

 for the most part, those of magnifica^ but the leaves on the 

 sterile branches are slightly grooved as in the true nohilis^ 



4 



