CHAl\ CXm. CONI'FER^, Pl'CEA. 2333 



One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with the silver fir is, 

 the vitality of the stump for many years after the tree has been cut down. As 

 far as we are aware, this was first noticed by Loiseleur Deslongchamps, in 

 the Noiiveau Du Hamel, v. p. 316.; where he says, speaking both of the 

 silver fir and the spruce, that, after being cut down, the stump vegetates for 

 some time ; its external ligneous layers increase with the liber, and endeavour, 

 by forming a callosity inwards, to cover the section of the stump. M. 

 Dutrochet had observed this process taking place on the stumps of the silver 

 fir in the Jura, in 1833; and he procured, in 1805, several stumps from the 

 Jura forests, which were in a living state when taken up. One of these was 

 the stump of a silver fir felled in 1821, which had thus been increasing in dia- 

 meter during 1+ years ; the new wood and bark being easily distinguishable from 

 the former wood and bark, which were in a state of incipient decomposition. 

 The total thickness of the l-L layers of this new ligneous production was 5'6G9 

 lines (nearly iin.) in the vertical part of the stump; and this thickness is increased 

 to 8"032 (J in.) in the ligneous part of the callosity (bourrclel) protruded over 

 a part of the section made by the axe. Another stump was that of a tree 

 felled in 17-1-3; and it was still full of life whea examined at the end of the 

 year 1836. The wood formed since the tree was felled consisted of 92 layers, 

 the total thickness of which was nearly 2 in. The wood of which the stump 

 was composed when the tree was felled had entirely disappeared ; and the 

 thick rind, or callosity, which had formed round the margin had curled over 

 so as almost to cover the top of the stump. This stump, which had lived 

 and increased in diameter during 92 years, would, in all probability, have en- 

 dured much longer ; so that we are ignorant how far this singular prolongation 

 of life and increase of growth may extend, in stumps deprived of their trunk 

 and leaves, and which only receive nourishment from the roots. (Garcl. Mag,, 

 vol. xiii. p. 93.) 



Geography, The silver fir is indigenous to the mountains of Central Eu- 

 rope, and of the west and north of Asia, rising to the commencerkient of the 

 zone of the Scotch pine. It is found in France, on the Pyrenees, the Alps, 

 and the Vosges ; in Italy, in Spain, and Greece in the south of Gernumy ; 

 and Russia, and in Siberia : but it is not found in Sweden or in Scotland. 

 On the Carpathian Mountains, it is found to the height of 3200 ft. ; and on the 

 Alps, to the height of from 3000 ft. to 4000 ft. It attains a large size in the 

 narrow valle3S between the Swiss mountains; in the Black Forest in the south 

 of Germany ; and on the Pollino, and in the Forest of Rubia, in the kingdom 

 of Naples. According to Pallas, it is common in Caucasus, the Uralian, 

 Altaic, and Baikal Mountains, growing in the clefts of the rocks ; but it is 

 seldom found in the plains. The trees on Caucasus have the branches more 

 elongated and slender, and the leaves more thinly scattered, broader, and 

 more einarginate, than the trees of Siberia; these last being, in all probability, 

 the J'bies Piclita of Fischer. Wherever it is found attaining a large size, 

 it invariably grows in good soil, and in a situation sheltered rather than 

 exposed. In German}', in the neighbourhood of Darmstadt, Baden, and 

 Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest, it is found growing among oaks and 

 other trees, in deep loamy soil, moist rather than dry; attaining the 

 height of from 80 ft. to 100 ft., with trunks from 16 ft. to 20 ft. in circum- 

 ference at 6 ft. from the ground. In the neighbourhood of Strasburg, and in 

 the Vosges, where it has attained the height of 150 ft., the situation has 

 always been low and sheltered, and the soil a deep loam. 



History. Some confusion exists in the works of modern authors respecting 

 the silver fir and the spruce ; partly, as it would appear, from the circumstance 

 of Linnaeus having made an erroneous application of the names given to these 

 trees by Pliny. The tree which Theophrastus calls Elate, Pliny calls Abies, 

 and Linnaeus Finns Pfcea ; while the tree that Pliny calls Picea, and w hich 

 is our spruce fir, is named by Linnaeus P. A'hies. The silver fir was esteemed 

 by the Romans for its use in carpentry, and for the construction of vessels; 

 and hence Virgil's expression, — 



