2318 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART 111. 



distinguished from A. orientalis Touni, P. orientalis Lamb. Pin., t. 39., a 

 nearly related species from Armenia and the western parts of Georgia, by 

 its more compressed and slenderer leaves, and by its larger cones with 

 broader scales. Cones of this species were first sent to the Earl of Hope- 

 toun, by Dr. Govan of Cupar, in 1818; who had received them from his 

 son in the East Indies, under the name of khutrow ; and from these seeds 

 six plants were raised the same year. After having been kept in pots for 

 two years, two of them were planted in the arboretum at Hopetoun House, 

 one was sent to the Horticultural Society of London, and tiie remainder to 

 the Botanic and Experimental Gardens at Edinburgh. We have already 

 mentioned that the larger of the two at Hopetoun House was 17 ft. 6 in. in 

 June, 1837; the diameter of the trunk, at 1 ft. from the ground, 2 ft. 2 in.; 

 and of the space covered by the branches, 1 1 ft. The branches, Mr. Smith 

 informs us, are a little pendulous; and the leading shoot, in 1836, was 

 about 18 in. long. Some scions from the side branches of this tree have 

 been grafted, in the herbaceous manner, on the common spruce, at the 

 height of 4 ft. or 5 ft. from the ground, allowing three or four tiers of branches 

 of the spruce to remain ; and the contrast between these branches and 

 those of the Himalayan spruce is very striking. Several plants have been 

 raised from the trees at Hopetoun House by cuttings, which form as hand- 

 some young trees as those raised from seed. Cones and seeds have since 

 been received by different persons ; and there are several in Lawson's museum, 

 Edinburgh. These cones, it is observed, are in size and shape somewhat 

 resembling those of A. excelsa, but differ in their scales, which are almost 

 round and entire on the margin ; while those of the Norway spruce are of a 

 rhomboidal shape, and rugged or notched on the outer extremity. The seeds 

 and wings are also very similar. {Laivsoti'x Manual, p. 370.) There can 

 be little or no doubt, but that this tree is as hardy in the climate of Britain 

 as the common spruce; and, as it is unquestionably more ornamental, it 

 well deserves a place in every collection. It is readily propagated by cut- 

 tings ; and, as the trees in this country will probably in a short time pro- 

 duce cones, plants, if there should be an extensive demand for them, will 

 soon be nearly as cheap as those of the common spruce fir. In the mean 

 time, the price, in the London nurseries, is 2\s. each. A great many plants 

 of this species have been raised in Knight's Exotic Nursery, from seeds 

 received from the Himalayas, and extensively distributed under the name of 

 p. Pindrow. Some confusion in the description of this species, in the Penny 

 Cyclopcedia and in Lawson's Manual, has resulted from the cones in Dr. 

 Wallich's figure being placed upright, which, if they had been actually so, 

 would have constituted it a Picea ; and, accordingly, Dr. Lindley calls it the 

 Indian silver fir. (See Professor Don, in Lambert's third volume, t. 88.) 

 ± 6. A. (? E.) ORiENTA^Lis Tourn. The Oriental Spruce Fir. 



Identification. Tourn. Cor., 41. ; Du Ham. Arb., 1. p. 4. „ . . , 



Synonyme. Plnus orientalis La7nb. Pin., ed. 2, 1. t 39., Lin. Sp. PI., 1421,, St/st., ed. Reich., 4. 



p. 178., Vitrmn. Sp. Pi., 5. p. 346. 

 Engraving. Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., 1. t. 39. 



Spec Char., &c. Leaves solitary, tetragonal. Cones ovate-cylindrical ; scales rhomboid. (Lamb. 

 JPin ) Mr Lambert states that he inserts this species on the authority of Tournefort, who says 

 ( Vou du Levant, p. 288.) that he found it growing in the vicinity of Trebisonde, where it is known 

 by the name of elate. Its trunk and branches he states to be about the size of those of Picea 

 pectinita. The leaves are 4 or 5 lines in length, and not more than half a line in breadth ; their 

 colour is a shining greenish brown. The cones are described as being nearly cylindrical, about 

 2i in. long, and 8 or 9 lines in diameter ; pointed, and composed of soft, thin, rounded scales, which 

 cover very minute and resinous seeds. The above description was written in 1804, before Mr. 

 Lambert had seen a specimen of ^. orientalis, either recent or dried, from a drawing made of the 

 plant in the time of Tournefort. Previously to the publication of his second edition, Mr. Lambert 

 received a specimen from Sir Gore Ouselv, collected by that gentleman in the vicinity of Teflis ; 

 from examining which, he states the specific distinctions of .i. orientiilis to be : "short quadran- 

 gular leaves, closely and imbricately arranged on the branches ; and oblong elliptical cones, four 

 times shorter than those of A. excelsa, with rhomboidal entire scales. The leaves are twice or 

 thrice shorter than 'those of A. excelsa, and are distinctly mucronulate, not pointless, as repre- 

 sented in Mr. Lambert's figure. The scales of the cone finally become emarginate, or slightly 

 crenulate. Mr. Lambert's figure being, according to his own account, very imperfect, we have 

 not copied it. We have already mentioned, under A. alba, the.opinion of Loiseleur Dcslong- 

 champs (formed, as he states, after comparing the drawings made for Tournefort with the speci- 

 mens of A. &lba brought from America by Michaux), that A. orientalis is only a variety of that 

 species. (See A'. Du Ham., v. p. 291.) We think it only a variety of A. excelsa. 



