CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUPS (SILVER FIRS) 67 



in height all other competitors. Whether they will 

 in turn be out-topped by sky-scraping Sequoias in 

 this country, or some other competitor of their own 

 genus, like the A. Forrestii, A. Recurvata, or the 

 A. Delavayii, hailing from internal China, is a question 

 for future generations to pronounce opinion upon. 

 At present our homespun Silver Fi^ (A. Pectinata) 

 towers far and above its companions of the wood- 

 lands, and stands out amongst its fellows as a demi-god 

 Triton among minnows. 



To those who would essay to dissociate the Silver 

 Fir family, one species from another species, we 

 would humbly suggest working them out by the 

 groups into which they have been arranged by 

 standard authorities, and we would submit to the 

 reader the following points which are mainl}^ respon- 

 sible for their inclusion in the various groups to 

 which they have been assigned. 



Arrangement of Leaves. — (i) Whether they are 

 radially (all round the stem) arranged as are the 

 leaves in the Spruces. (N.B. — Group I, only these, 

 the A. Pinsapo and A. Cephalonica, are thus arranged.) 

 (2) Whether they are pectinately arranged, like a 

 comb, as particularly and ideally in the A. Grandis 

 in Group II. (3) Whether they are less, strictly 

 speaking, pectinately and more V-shaped by arrange- 

 ment, and if V-shaped, whether they are acutely 

 divided or whether their leaves gape out more 

 widely apart, rather after the manner of horns of 

 cattle, as do some in Group II. (4) Whether they 

 have, as in Group III, median leaves on the top, 

 instead of the bare parting in Group II. 



Other points in shape and habit of leaf, apart 

 from any question of arrangement to be noticed : 

 (a) whether the median leaves are as long as 

 or shorter than the lower-placed leaves ; {b) which 

 way these median leaves point (all except in A. 

 6 



