FIGEA 97 



listed than var. Gregoriana, and it is rarely found true. 

 It is a very distinct variety, and of it there appear to be at 

 least three, if not four, forms. Only one of these — that 

 described above — has the typical needle-Uke foUage, 

 arranged radially all over the plant. This form is very 

 rare in cultivation, and I know of only two old specimens 

 of it: one at Kew, over thirty-five years old, is now 

 18 inches by 21 inches; the other is in the gardens of 

 Mr. D. Pack-Beresford, of Fenagh, Co. Carlow. This he 

 purchased from Veitch in 1900, and it is now a low 

 round-headed bush only 15 inches by 16 inches. I 

 have young plants, but they are extremely slow- 

 growing. 



The second form we must distinguish as — 



P. excelsa Gregoriana forma Veitchii. 



This form is very close to the first, but differs in these 

 respects: (1) Its foHage is needle- like and radial only on 

 the upright leading shoots, but upon the side branchlets 

 they are thinner and flatter, and are either semi-radial or 

 pectinate in arrangement. (2) The branchlets are longer, 

 making an annual growth of from J inch to 1 J inches, and 

 are flexible and more incHned to droop. (3) The plant is 

 more vigorous in growth, and makes a larger, less compact, 

 and broader conical bush. A plant of this form at Kew, 

 of about the same age as the first, is now 3 feet by 4 feet 

 6 inches, and a still finer specimen in the Dwarf Conifer 

 Collection at Highlands Park, Rochester, New York, is 

 3 feet 6 inches by 6 feet in diameter. 



This is the form of var. Gregoriana most frequently 

 found in cultivation, and its origin is obscure; both it and 

 the first form were sent out by Veitch twenty-five years 

 ago as var. Gregoriana. In a young state the needle- 

 like radial foliage predominates, and it may well be the 

 case that Veitch, either having raised this form himself 

 or having obtained it elsewhere, sent it out in the belief 

 that it was absolutely identical with the first, but in full- 



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