A. PINSAPO AND CEPHALONICA 



UNDECIDED 



Group III 

 Religiosa (ist yeax corrugated; 



2nd year smooth). 

 Mariesii (smooth, but slightly 



fissured when older). 



Group VI 



Pindrow (^smooth, but slightly 

 fissured 2nd year). 



ABIES. GROUP I 



(of radially arranged leaves) 



A. PiNSAPO AND CePHALONICA 



The Spanish Pinsapo and the Greek Cephalonica 

 practise the rites of unorthodoxy in their observances 

 of Silver Fir rules, with a defiance that asks for 

 expulsion. Their leaves are radially arranged, have 

 spiny tips, and show white stomata bands on both 

 surfaces, and are attenuated towards the base, where, 

 like the Pinsapo, they take their rest on little green 

 supports. So far they are fashioned after the manner 

 of the Spruce tree family. 



What, then, is it that entitles them to rank among 

 the Abies ? In the first place their cones are erect and 

 dehiscent. In the second place the situation of their 

 leaves is in accordance with the traditions of the 

 Silver Fir. When pulled off they leave a circular 

 scar, as is explained previously. These two points 

 tip the beam in favour of the Abies, but it must have 

 been a close thing at one time, we imagine, and a case 

 for the referee to be called in. The Pinsapo takes 

 its name from a region in Spain ; the Cephalonica 

 from the Greek Island Cephalonia in the Ionian Sea. 



The rampant unorthodoxy of these two Abies 

 simplifies the matter of their identity if it does 

 nothing else. The much harder, shorter, lighter- 

 tinted, broader, and aggressively sticking-out rigid 

 leaves of the Pinsapo prevent any misconception 

 arising as to which is which of these two stable com- 

 panions. The new twigs of the Pinsapo are, we 



