CHAP. CXIII. 



CONl FERjE. y^ BIES. 



2317 



28 ft. '; at Grimston, 13 years planted, it is 40 ft. high. In Ireland, at Dublin, in the Glasnevin 

 Botanic Garden, 35 years planted, it is 35 ft. high. In France, in the Park of Clervaux, 28 years 

 planted, it is 39 ft. high. In Bavaria, in the English Garden at Munich, 18 years planted, it is 

 14ft. high. 



1 5. A. Smithia'na Wall. Smith's, m- the Himalayan, Spruce Fir. 



Synonymes. Plnus Smithia?!« Wall. PI. Asiat. Bar., 3. p. 24. t 346., Cat., No. 6063., Lamb. Pin., 3. 



t. 88.; P. Kkidrow Royle III., t. 84. f. 1. ; A. Morinda Hort; Raga, or Raggoe, in the Parbutee 



language. 

 Engravings. Wall PI. As. Rar., t. 246. ; Royle III, t. 84. f. 4. ; Lamb. Pin., 3. t. 88. ; and our Jig. 2229. 



from Royle. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves compressed, tetragonal, straight, awl-shaped, sharp- 

 pointed. Cones ovate-oblong; scales obovate-roundish, coriaceous, rigid, 

 smooth on the margin. Crest of the anthers roundish, irregularly cre- 

 nated. (Z). Don. in Lamb. Pin.) Leaves, in Royle's specimen, and in the 

 Horticultural Society's Garden, from 1 in. to l^in. in length. Cone, in 

 Royle's figure, 6 in. long, and 2i in. broad; scale l^in. in length, and the 

 same in breadth at the vifldest part. Seeds about the size of those of the 

 common spruce ; with the wing, |^ in. long, and f in. broad. A pyramidal 

 drooping-branched tree ; growing, in the Himalayas, to the height of 50 ft. 

 Introduced in 1818. 



Varieties. Dr. Royle observes that the leaves of A. ^mithidna, in Wallich's 

 figure, are much broader than those in his figure ; and that they may pro- 

 bably be different species or varieties. Judging from the leaves, the tree 

 in the Horticultural Society's Garden appears to be Dr. Royle's variety. 



Desaij^tion, S^c. A pyramidal tree, 50 ft. 

 or more in height, with a light grey bark. 

 Branchlets remotely verticillate, spreading, 

 somewhat pendulous. Unexpanded buds 

 copper-coloured. Leaves turned in every 

 direction; from 1 in. to lijn. long; erect 

 and spreading, fine, compressed-tetragonal, 

 straight, awl-shaped, stiff and nmcronate, 

 rigid; pale green, and somewhat glaucous, 

 arising from a very faintly marked silvery line 

 in the grooves between the angles. Male 

 catkins solitary, thick, oval-oblong, obtuse ; 

 scarcely 1 in. long ; yellow, with numerous 

 oblong-obtuse, revolute, brown scales, torn 

 on the margin. Anthers linear-wedge- 

 shaped ; 2-celled, opening beneath longitudi- 

 nally by two fissures ; 3 lines long ; crowned 

 with a roundish, slightly crenulated, carti- 

 laginous, rather rigid, convex crest. Cones 

 terminal, solitary, pendulous, ovate-oblong, 

 cylindrical, 4 — 7 in. long, swelled in the 

 middle ; scales obovate-roundish, coriace- 

 ous, rigid, quite entire, rarely cracked ; 

 brown, convex, smooth, loosely imbricated. 

 Seeds wedge-shaped, angled; brown, with a crustaceous testa ; wing unequally 

 sided, obovate, thinly membranaceous, dark yellow, truncate at the apex, ob.so- 

 letely crenulated. (Lanib., Laws., and obs.) According to Royle, a very fine 

 resin is secreted on the cones, which would yield a superior kind of turpentine. 

 The rate of growth of this tree in British gardens is almost as rapid as that 

 of the common spruce, perhaps equally so. A tree at Hopetoun House, 

 raised from seed in 1818, was, in June, 1837, 17ft. Gin. high; though the 

 early growth of the plant had been checked by its having been kept for 

 two years in a pot. The tree in the Horticultural Society's Garden has 

 been 8 years planted, and is 12 ft. high. The Himalaya spruce is a native 

 of Kamaon and Sirmore; and, according to Professor Don, it is chiefly 



