328 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFERS 



angle with the stem. Found in Central Europe and sometimes 

 seen in cultivation, 



Var. strigosa, Christ. 



Resembling a larch in habit, with numerous, slender, horizontal 

 branches. Found in Switzerland. 



Var. tabulaeformis, Carriere. 



A prostrate plant with slender branchlets spreading horizon- 

 tally over the ground. It is said to have originated from a 

 cutting taken from a witch's broom found on a typical tree. 



Var. triloba, Ascherson and Graebner. 



Scales of the cones three-lobed at the apex. A rare tree found 

 in the Harz Mountains. 



Var. tuber culata, Schroter. 



A sport in which the lower part of the trunk is covered with 

 corky excrescences. Examples have been found in Switzerland, 

 Austria, and Germany. 



Var. variegata, Carriere. 

 Leaves variegated with pale yellow. 



Var. virgata, Caspary. 



Snake Spruce. 



Stem producing very few branches, which are elongated, 

 straight or curved. Leaves spreading all round the shoot. 

 Found in Norway, Sweden, Bohemia, etc. 



The common spruce may generally be known from all the 

 other square-leaved species by the reddish brown colour of the 

 shoots, which are usually without hairs, and by the bluntly 

 pointed leaves. 



P. excelsa is a native of Europe, where it has a very wide 

 distribution, ranging from the Pyrenees, Alps, and Balkans, 

 northwards to S. Germany and E. Prussia, to Scandinavia, and 

 eastwards through the Carpathians and Poland to W. Russia. It 

 is common in Switzerland, reaching an altitude of 6,000 ft. It is 

 known to have been in cultivation since 1548, and is one of the 

 commonest and hardiest of conifers. 



Wood light in weight, soft, straight-grained, long-fibred, 

 elastic, cream-coloured or white, easily worked when free from 

 knots, finishing with a satiny surface ; knots black or dark brown, 

 very hard, frequently loose and troublesome under the plane. 

 3oulger^ gives the following results of strength tests : 



1 Woods of Commerce, p. 277 (1908). 



