337 
Loudon (loc. cit., ers 4, 2302). i will be as well to give 
his statement in full.  pough the Spruce fir is generally 
allowed not to be a native of Britain, it appears to have been 
introduced at a very early period, as Turner includes it in his 
mes of Herbes, “published in 1548, and both Gerard and 
Parkinson not only give very good engravings of it, but speak 
of its being found in great quantities in different parts of the 
island. The early British writers on rees, however, appear to 
have confounded the Scotch pine with the Spruce fir, and it is 
remarkable that neither of the above-mentioned writers mentions 
the Scotch pine at all, thot gh it is pr obably the tree Parkinson 
means, when he speaks of the ‘firre tree’ growing wild in 
Scotland.”’ 
The same evidence is relied on by later writers. Elwes and 
Henry (loc. cit., vi., 1912, p. 1551), for example, write thus 
of Picea exrcelsa: —‘‘ It appears to have been introduced early 
in the sixteenth century, as Turner includes it in his Names of 
Herbes published in 1548; and both Gerard ips Parkinson state 
that it was found in different parts of Britai 
Turner’s reference to the Spruce (‘The Fone of Herbes, 1548) 
is in these words :—‘‘ Picea is called i in greeke as The wilore Gaza 
turneth, pitys and after Ruellius peuce* “and it is called in duch 
rotté Dan wherfore it may be called in englishe a red firre tree. 
It is difficult to understand why this mention of the Spruce 
should have been brought forward as evidence that the tree was 
grown in Britain at the date of Turner’s publication, especially 
as the Larch is also included in his list. 
The fact, noted by Loudon, that both Gerard and Parkinson 
give engravings of the Spruce, proves nothing, since these figures 
are taken from the works of earlier authors. Thus Gerard’s 
illustration on p. 1172 of this Herball (1597) is the same as that 
given by Tabernaemontanus (Hicones Plantarum, 1590, p. 940). 
while the figure in the 1636 edition of Gerard’s Herball Ee 1354) 
and in Parkinson’s Theatrum Botanicum (1640, p. 1538) is to 
a found in Lobel’s Plantarum seu Stirpium *itiate (1576, 
. 633). 
ee referring to Gerard and Parkinson for the statement aitri- 
_ buted to these authors by Loudon, that the Spruce was “‘ found 
in great quantities in different parts of the island,’’ no such 
information could be found. Gerard’s reference to distribution 
(The Herbail, 1597, p. 1172; also 1626 edition, ah 1354) reads : — 
‘*The Pitch tree groweth in Greece, Italy, France, Germanie, 
and all the cold regions even unto Russia,’’ while Parkinson 
(Theatrum Botanicum, 1640, p. 1539) merely says :—‘‘ The first 
[i.e. Pecea vulgaris, The pn oar Pitch tree] groweth usually 
in all countries with the Firre trees, but seldom neere the Sea. 
Tt appears therefore that a record of the Spruce being grown 
* The index of plants at the end of Hort’s “'Theophrastus’ Enquiry into 
Plants” (1916), does not include the Spruce. Four species of Pinus are given 
as the equivalents of different trees referred to by Theophrastus under 
neha 4 nd zirvs, no mention of Spruce having been identified under either of 
ese names. 
