210 TRANS. OF THE ACAD. OF SCIENCE. 



Firms. Carriere (Traite des Conileres) adopted Link's ge- 

 nera, with Endlicher's addition, without further developing 

 their distinctive characters. My investigations lead me to 

 adopt Carrie-re's views, more firmly establishing those six 

 genera — not without some misgivings, however, as it will 

 appear from the following, that, besides the characters de- 

 rived from the organs of fructification, in one instance at least 

 the characters of vegetation have also to be brought in to 

 distinguish two apparently not very nearly allied genera, Larix 

 and Tsuga; while others, thought to be closely connected, 

 such as Picea and Tsuga, or Larix and Cedrus, recede far 

 from each other in their essential organs. Otherwise the 

 characters of fructification and vegetation go so well together 

 as materially to confirm one another and to establish the ge- 

 neric differences. An interesting fact is, that the pollengrains 

 of Abies, Tsuga and Picea are largest (in four species 0.053- 

 0.060 1. in the longest diameter), those of Larix and Cedrus 

 smaller (in two species 0.042-0.043 1.), and those of Pinusthe 

 smallest (in four species 0.034-0.038 1.) Will the characters 

 or vegetation, after all, outweigh those of fructification, and 

 will we have to fall back to old Tournefort's views and re- 

 cognize his three genera — Abies, with single leaves and large 

 pollen ; Larix, with crowded leaves and middle-sized pollen; 

 and Pinus, with fasciculated, sheathed leaves and small 

 pollen? 



I have, with Du Roi, Link and Endlicher, and against Lin- 

 nans', Lambert's and Loudon's authority, adopted the ancient 

 Plinian name of Picea, the pitch tree, forthose with quad- 

 rangular leaves and pendulous cones, the original representa- 

 tive of which is the well known pitch tree of Europe, here 

 usually called "Norway Spruce," and the name of Abies also 

 in the Plinian sense for those with fiat leaves and erect cones, 

 the Fir trees. 



Abietinejs vee^e. 



I. Fructificatio annua; squamae strobili tenuiores brac- 

 teis plerumque tenuibus pcruamentaceis hinc excrescentibus 

 rarissime lignescentibus suti'ultae. Semina facie superiore 

 basi ala3 fere persistentis obtecta caque plus minus inclusa. 

 Amenta mascula fcmineaque perulis indefinitis suffulta, in 

 ramulis anni prions axillaria, rarius terminalia ; antherse 

 varise. Folia singula sen, axi abbreviata, fasciculata iute- 

 gerrima.* 



* Though the leaves are usually entire, I have seen a seedling of Picea 

 txctlsa from the woods of Tiient, in Switzerland, with spinulose leaves ; 

 wither that is the ordinary occurrence I do not know. The young of 

 P. ni$ra, from the White Mountains, have entire leaves. 



