THE SPRUCE FIR. 



Pi'cea excel' sa, Link. 



There has been considerable confusion as to the name, 

 "whether classical, popular, or scientific, of this tree. 

 The word " fir," the torch or fire tree, was originally 

 applied to the Scots Pine (Pi'nus sylves'tris L.), and 

 Picea and A'bies were used almost indiscriminately 

 by classical writers for the Norway Spruce or for the 

 Silver Fir of Central Europe, whilst modern botanists 

 have been hardly more decided. Thus this tree is the 

 Pinus Abies of Linne, Pinus Picea of Duroi, Pinus 

 excelsus of Lamarck, Abies Picea of Miller, Abies 

 excelsa of De Candolle, and the name now in use 

 Picea excelsa of Link. In his " Names of Herbes " 

 (1548), William Turner says : 



" Picea is called in greeke as Theodore Gaza turneth, pitys, and 

 after Ruellius peuce, and it is called in duch rotte Dan, wherfore it 

 maye be called in englishe a red firre tree." 



It is, however, very doubtful whether the Norway 

 Spruce had been then introduced into this country, 

 though it is probably the tree which both Pliny 

 and Turner knew as Picea. The controversy as to 

 whether the Spruce or the Silver Fir is the better 

 entitled to the classical name Abies turns partly 

 upon Virgil's lines in the ^Eneid with reference to 

 the wooden horse of Troy : 



"Instar montis equum, divina Palladis arte 

 iEdificant, sectaque intexunt abiete costas." 



53 105 



