48 THE FLORIST. 



DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF HARDY CONIFERS. No. 11. 



I. ABIES DOUGLASI — THE DOUGLAS FIR. 



We present our readers this month with an engraving, taken from 

 a drawing recently made for the Florist, of the Douglas Fir in the 

 Dropmore Pinetum, which, like the Araucaria figured last month, 

 is supposed to be the finest specimen of the tree in the country. 



The specific name " Douglasi" was accorded to this plant in 

 comphment to Mr. D. Douglas, whose name will be for ever asso- 

 ciated -with coniferous plants, as the introducer of so many fine 

 things from the North-west coast of America, where our present 

 subject occupies immense tracts from 43° to 52° north latitude. A. 

 Douglasi was first found by Mr. Menzies,in 1797, at Nootka Sound, 

 and was subsequently seen by IVIr. Lewis on the Columbia river ; 

 but the merit of introducing the plant to Britain belongs unques- 

 tionably to Douglas, seeds having been sent by him to the tlorticul- 

 tural Society in 1826, from which the present and other of the 

 largest plants now in the country were raised; and no higher com- 

 pliment could have been paid him than by connecting his name 

 with this magnificent tree. 



Abies Douglasi belongs to the Spruce Fir section of Abietineae, 

 which, in some respects, it resembles ; but is a much more graceful 

 and ornamental tree, reaching to the height of 180 feet and upwards 

 on its native soil, with a trunk, in some specimens, of from 12 to 15 

 feet in diameter. 



The tree (see the engraving opposite) assumes an upright conical 

 form, with numerous horizontal branches, from the ground upwards, 

 thickly set with foliage; the leaves are of a pleasing green colour, 

 and remain a long time on the branch, and thus form a dense mass 

 of fohage, which adds much to its value as an ornamental tree ; and 

 when the young shoots (which at first are of a bright silvery green) 

 protrude in the spring, the contrast between them and the older 

 shoots from which they proceed forms a mass of light and shade at 

 once beautiftd and striking. 



In its native habitats, the Douglas Fir produces a timber of a 

 yellow colour, and is said to be firm and heavy, mth the advantage 

 of not being liable to warp. The bark of young trees abounds with a 

 clear yellow resin. The above indicates that the timber is of consi- 

 derable commercial value, combining, as it appears to do, so many 

 valuable properties. 



Of the tree now engraved, Mr. Frost informs us that it was 

 raised from seed in the spring of 1828, and planted in the year fol- 

 lowing: a small hole only was prepared for it, and the tree conse- 

 quently grows in the common soil of the place. Mr. Frost has, 

 however, occasionally assisted it with top-dressings of decayed vege- 

 table soil, towards the extremities of the roots. One point in man- 

 aging the tree must be noticed, from the habit it has of forming 

 two or more leaders, which check its upward progress ; and as a mat- 



