436 PICEA EXCELS A. 



although closely resembling each other in many respects, are designated 

 by names for the most part indicative of the region in which they 

 are found ; the most noteworthy of these are : alpestris, common in 

 parts of the Swiss Alps ; carpatica which has been introduced into- 

 Great Britain from the Carpathian mountains ; hyrcinica found on 

 the Harz mountains ; and medioximi* common in north Scandinavia, 

 Finland and Kussia. These geographical forms are distinguished from 

 the common type chiefly by their smaller dimensions, denser habit,, 

 shorter leaves and smaller cones. They are botanically interesting 

 as intermediate states between Picea cxcelsa and P. obovata and 

 between P. excelsa and P. orientalis, but for British arboriculture 

 they are relatively worthless. 



It is, however, under cultivation and in the seed beds that the 

 surprising variability of the common Spruce Fir is most manifest ; but 

 although deviations from the ordinary type are extremely numerous, they 

 take place in comparatively few directions and thence admit of a loose 

 kind of grouping under four heads which may be designated: 1, dwarf,. 

 2, snake-branched, 3, pendulous, and 4, coloured. The most distinct and 

 the most useful of the forms in each group for garden decoration in this 

 country are those described in the preceding pages, but many others, 

 closely resembling or intermediate forms have also received distinguishing- 

 names, f 



The Spruce Fir in Great Britain, in its normal form, is of more 

 concern to the forester than the horticulturist ; nevertheless, under 

 conditions favourable for its development, it is one of the most 

 picturesque of coniferous trees for the park and landscape when standing 

 singly and feathered with branches from the base to the summit. 

 The rate of growth of the leader shoot after the first three or four- 

 years from the seed, ranges from one to three feet annually, according, 

 to situation, up to twenty -five thirty years, when it very gradually 

 diminishes till the tree attains its maturity, which takes from seventy 

 to one hundred and twenty years, according to locality. It is also 

 highly appreciated as an ornamental tree in the northern arid middle 

 States of North America, but it is comparatively short-lived ; it- 

 grows with vigour and rapidity for thirty to forty years, but healthy 

 trees of more than fifty years old are uncommon, so that it is not 

 suited for economic planting in North America. J On account of its 

 hardiness and its power of resisting the force of high winds the 

 Spruce Fir is one of the best of trees for the formation of protective 

 screens for the more tender Coniferse in their young state ; but the 



* This is described and figured as a species by Andrew Murray in Lawson's Pinetum 

 Britannicum, Vol. II. p. 159, t. 23. 



f Beissner, Nadelholzkunde, pp. 355367, has described upwards of sixty varieties of the 

 common Spruce Fir including the Hauptformen and geographical varieties. Some ot the 

 closely resembling forms have originated in different countries, as monstrosa, England ;, 

 viminalis, Sweden ; virgata, Norway ; dcmidata, France. 



J Garden and Forest, Vol. X. p. 481. 



