82 



Descriptive and historical Notice 



distance, so as to form a very broad tree in proportion to its height. The 

 leaves, on plants raised in England, are equally and thickly distributed over the 

 branches, and stand out nearly at right angles on every side. They are of a 

 fine shining dark green above, and have two rather obscure silvery lines, sepa- 

 rated by the midrib, beneath. They differ from those of all other species of 

 j4^bies and Picea, in terminating in a long, brown, sharp prickle, and in having 

 the footstalks (which are so short that the leaves are almost sessile) dilated 

 lengthwise in the direction of the branches ; the dilated part being of a much 

 lighter green than the rest of the leaves. 

 The leaves, on branches at some distance 

 from the ground, and on the leading 

 shoot, as compared with those of other 

 pines and firs, may be described as dagger- 

 shaped, or as resembling miniature bay- 

 onets. They are equally and closely 

 distributed over the branches ; and, being 

 almost without footstalks, and broad at 

 the base in proportion to their length, 

 they give the branches which are clothed 

 with them a good deal of the appearance 

 of Araucaria brasiliensis. The leaves, on 

 the branches which are close to the 

 ground, are rather more two-rowed, in 

 the manner of the silver fir, than those 

 on the higher branches ; as may be seen 

 in j%. 7., which represents a portion of 

 the lowest branch of the young tree in 

 the pinetum at Dropmore. The colour 

 of the bark of the young shoots is a 

 decided brown ; which, contrasting with 

 the light colour of the petioles, and the 

 dark green of the upper surface of the 

 leaves, and their silvery lines below, gives the plant at once a rich and a lively 

 appearance. The buds are prominent, somewhat square-sided, pointed, and 

 slightly covered with resin. In plants kept under glass, they have much 

 more resin than in those kept in the open air. The branches are very nume- 

 rous; and, though originating at the main stem ^ja 7 

 in regular tiers, yet, at a short distance from ~ 

 it, they divaricate in all directions ; and, in 

 plants in pots, from 3 ft. to 4ft. high, which 

 are the largest that we have seen, they form a 

 bush broader than it is high. This is also said 

 to be the case with the plants in the open ground 

 at Luscombe and at Hampton Lodge. The 

 general resemblance which the plant, in this 

 state, has to an araucaria is very remarkable ; 

 and, if the cones should prove to be as dif- 

 ferent from those of other species of /l^bies and 

 Picea as the leaves, this tree will form a con- 

 necting link between the firs and the arau- 

 carias. The cones have not yet been seen in Britain ; but General Napier 

 thinks that they are sometimes {)ointing upwards, and sometimes turned 

 down ; and Mr. Curling, who was superintendent of the Colonial Farm in 

 Cephalonia at the time that General Napier was governor of the island, and 

 who is now steward to Sir Henry Bunburv, at "Mildenhall, Suffolk, thinks 

 that he recollects that the cones were soft and pendulous, like those of the 

 spruce fir. This point, through the fdndness of General Napier, now (Janu- 

 ary, 1838,) residing at Bath, who has promised to procure cones for us, and a 

 specimen of the wood, we hope soon to be able to determine. 



Geography. The only known habitat of this remarkable fir is in Cepha- 



