244 THE FLOKAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



and elevated regions, while others make their ahode in dismal swamps, 

 so they exhibit extremes of habit in growth, a large number being mere 

 dwarf bushes and trailing shrubs, while to the same tribe we must go to 

 find the tallest trees in the world. The pines of northern Europe are the 

 most apt to vary, the same species often producing trees of gigantic 

 growth, and diminutive bushes. Abies alba is a noble tree, which forms 

 a pyramid of silvery vegetation, but we have a dwarf variety, A. alba 

 nana, which forms a dense bush of only three feet high. Abies excelsa is 

 a lofty tree, attaining a height of 150 feet, but it produces several dwarf 

 varieties, some with weeping branches, and some with silver and gold 

 variegations. To compare the two species with A. excelsa pygmea, which 

 does not rise more than a foot from the ground, or with A. excelsa 

 elegans, which is a compact tree of only four feet, would be to learn a 

 curious lesson in vegetable physiology, the tallest of the pines being the 

 parent of the most dwarf variety Ave have. In the same way Abies nigra 

 is a tall tree averaging 70 to 80 feet, but its variety pumila, never 

 reaches above four feet, and rarely ascends higher than three. The red, or 

 Arctic spruce, grows, in a loamy soil and sheltered situation, to a height 

 of 80 feet, but, on the bald acclivity of an Arctic precipice, it becomes a 

 close dwarf bush, as unlike a fir as a clipped box in a cottage garden. 

 This, indeed, is the last of arborescent vegetation found in Arctic climes, and 

 may be said to be the hardiest of its race. Even Cedrus Lebani, the 

 towering cedar of Lebanon, gives us a dwarf variety, nana, which grows 

 only three feet high, as well as a silvery-leaved and a pendulous variety. 

 Biota orientalis is also a rich foliaged evergreen bush of 18 or 20 feet, but 

 its varieties differ considerably, from Sieboldii, which the Japanese grow as 

 a miniature pot plant, to the gold and silver leaved variegata and argentea. 

 B. orientalis aurea, is a bush of only two feet high, possessing a foliage of 

 the most beautiful golden hue, and during winter is superb in the richness 

 of its variegated tints. Chamsecyparis sphseroidea, a tall evergreen species 

 of white cedar, has a very different configuration from its dwarf variety, 

 nana, which is a diminutive bush of quite different habit to its robust 

 parent. Taxus adpressa, which is a dwarf species, and Podocarpus 

 koriana, may, with the junipers and savins, be added to the above as valu- 

 able dwarf conifers for the embellishment of gardens. 



The pines noted for majestic growth, are, however, the most numerous. 

 Abies, Pinus, Picea, Cedrus, and Araucaria, furnish the most remarkable 

 forms of gigantic vegetation. A. pattonii, the giant Californian fir, 

 discovered on the Missouri, by Lewis and Clark, is said to attain 300 

 feet in height, the stem being bare for 200 feet, and commonly having a 

 girth of 42 feet. Smithiana is another of the lofty Abies, and one of the 

 most superb of its family, attaining 150 feet, with a graceful sweep of 

 brauchlets, and a general outline of the most majestic character. Dou- 

 glasii and Mertensiana commonly grow to a height of 150 feet, and the 

 first sometimes reaches 200. Among the silver firs, Picea religiosa, the 

 sacred silver fir of Mexico, which is used there for the decoration of 

 churches, is often found of a stature of 150 feet, at 9,000 feet of elevation 

 on the mountains of Angangueo. Picea amabilis, the lovely silver fir, 

 reaches a stature of 250 feet in a gravelly soil, at an elevation of 4,000 

 feet, some of the trees having clean mast-like stems 60 feet clear without 

 branches, and from 15 to 20 feet in circumference. Picea grandis grows 



