THE SILVER FIRS. 147 



No. 4, PiCEA FiRMA, Siehold, the Japan Silver Fir. 

 Syn. Abies homolepis, Siebold. 

 „ „ firma, Zuccarini. 

 „ ,, Momi, Siebold. 



Leaves, solitary, somewhat two-rowed, one inch long, very 

 thickly placed on the shoots, linear, flat, and blunt-pointed, or 

 sometimes slightly bifid at the ends, partially sickle-shaped, on 

 very short footstalks, and seldom inserted exactly in lines on 

 the branches; smooth, leathery, of a rich green above, and 

 marked on each side of the mid-rib on the under side with two 

 white lines. Branches, in regular whorls, like the common 

 Silver Fir, spreading, flat, and horizontal, with the smaller ones 

 opposite, and thickly clothed with foliage ; buds, oval, rounded 

 on the points, smooth, in threes, the middle one the longest, 

 imbricated, and surrounded with numerous narrow membrana- 

 ceous scales, in several close tiers, and remaining at the base 

 of the shoots, afterwards, for some years. Cones, cylindrical, 

 blunt-pointed, straight, but sometimes slightly curved, and on 

 short footstalks, three inches long, and one inch broad, thickly 

 covered with imbricated, closely reflected scales. Scales, 

 broad, wedge-shaped at the base, rounded on the upper margin, 

 and slightly crenulated, numerous, deciduous, thin, flat, imbri- 

 cated, membranaceous round the edges, and slightly toothed, 

 thickest at the base, and of a dull brown colour, falling oflf the 

 axile in the autumn after the seeds are ripe ; bracteas projecting, 

 stifi", and acute. Seeds, triangular and soft, with a broad wing. 

 Seed-leaves in fives. 



A tall tree, with the appearance of the common Silver Fir, 

 found, according to Dr. Siebold, on the Japan Islands of 

 Nippon, and Jezo, and frequent in the provinces of Mutsu and 

 Dewa, at an elevation of 2,000 or 3,000 feet. The Japanese dis- 

 tinguish different varieties under the names of ' To-Momi,' from 

 the north of China, and the ' Jezo-Momi,' or the ' Nire-Momi' of 

 Japan; this last is distinguished by its leaves sloping more towards 

 the ends of the branches, and by the cones being much shorter. 

 They also distinguish a kind with the ends of the leaves slightly 



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