1026 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BIUTANNICUM. 



Leaves simple, 2-rowed, exstipulate, evergreen ; linear. Flowers in cat- 

 kins, the males yellowish. Trees evergreen ; natives of Europe, Asia, and 

 America ; remarkable for their tall, erect, pyramidal forms, and profusion 

 of foliage. One or more species are useful, and the rest ornamental. In 

 Britain, they flower in May and June, and ripen their cones in the spring of 

 the following year. All the species bear seeds at a comparatively early age ; 

 and all of them may be readily propagated by cuttings taken off in the 

 spring, according to Dumont De Courset ; or in autumn, according to the 

 practice of British gardeners. All the species hitherto introduced are quite 

 hardy in British gardens. 

 Our arrangement of the species in British gardens is as under : 



i. Leaves tetragonal, awl-shaped, scattered in insertion. 



A. Natives of Europe and the Cancaszts. 

 1. excelsa. 2. orientalis. 3. obovata. 



B. Natives of North America. 

 4. alba. 5. nigra. 6. (n.) riibra. 



C. Native of Nepal. 7. Khutrow. 

 ii. Leaves flat, generally glaucous beneath, imperfectly 2-rowed. 



D. Natives of North America. 



8. Douglass. 9. Menzies/z. 10. canadensis. 



E. Native of Nepal, 1 1 . dumosa. 



J i. Leaves tetragonal, awl-shaped, scattered in insertion. 



A. Natives of Europe and the Caucasus. 

 i 1. A. EXCE'LSA Dec. The lofty, or Norway, Spruce Fir. 



Identification. Dec. Fl. Fr., 3. ; Poir. Diet. Encyc., 6. p. 518. ; N. Du Ham., 6. p. 289. 



Synont/mes. A. communis Hort. ; ^'bies Picea Mill. Diet. No. 2. ; Plnus ^ v bies Lin. Sp. PI. 1421. ; 

 P. Picea Du Koi Harbk. ed. Pott., 2. p. 156. ; P. excelsa Lam. Fl. Fr. ed. J. 2. p. 202. ; Picea 

 vulgaris Link in Abhand. p. 180. ; common Spruce, Prussian Fir ; faux .Sapin, E'picea, Sapin- 

 Pesse, Serente, Sapin gentil, Finesse, Fr. ; Lafie, in the Vosges ; gemeine rothe Tanne, gemeine 

 fichte, Ger. ; Pezzo, Abete di Germania, or di Norvegia, Ital. 



Engravings. Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., 1. t. 35. ; N. Du Ham., 6. t. 80. ; the plates of this tree in Arb. 

 Brit, 1st edit., vol. viii. ; and our 1g. 1923. 



Spec. Char.,8fc. Leaves scattered, quadrangular. Cones cylindrical, terminal, 

 pendent ; scales naked, truncate at the summit, flat. Crest of the anthers 

 rounded. (Lois.) Cone from 5 in. to 7 in. long, and from 1 in. to 2 in. 

 broad ; scale from 1 in. to l^in. long, and from in. to fin. broad. Seed 

 very small, scarcely in. long, and ^ in. broad ; with the wing, f in. long, 

 and in. broad. Cotyledons 7 to 9. A lofty tree. North of Europe, 

 more particularly Norway. Height 80 ft. to 100 ft. Cultivated since 1548. 

 It flowers in May ; its cones are ripened in the spring of the following year, 

 soon after which they commence shedding their seeds. 



Varieties. 



1 A. e. I commiinis. The common Spruce, or White Fir of Norway. 

 The foliage is shorter, more slender, and lighter-coloured, than in 

 the following form ; though the difference may be in part owing to 

 soil and situation. 



t A. e. 2 nigra. The black-leaved Spruce, or Red Fir of Norway. 

 There is a tree in Studley Park, known there as the black spruce, of 

 which a portrait is given in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. viii. In the 

 foliage, it answers to the description given of the red fir of Norway ; 

 its leaves being very thick, strong, and dark-coloured ; its bark red ; 

 and its cones longer than those of the common spruce. The leaves, 

 in the specimen sent to us, are 1 in. in length ; and the cones from 

 5 in. to 6 in. long, and from 1 1 in. to l in. broad. The scales (see 



