116 ABELIA ABIES 



Native of the N.W. Himalaya, introduced in 1847 to the Glasnevin Botanic 

 Garden, and first flowered there in 1852. This is the hardiest of the Abelias, 

 and has grown vigorously at Kew in the open for many years. When it flowers 

 freely (which does not happen every year) it ^makes a pretty display, and 

 remains interesting because of the curious persistent calyces surmounting the 

 fruits. 



A. UNIFLORA, R. Brown. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 4694.) 



An evergreen shrub of spreading habit, 5 or 6 ft. high, ultimately with 

 arching branches ; shoots slender, minutely downy when young. Leaves ovate, 

 often with long, tapered points, rounded or tapered at the base, sparsely and 

 shallowly toothed ; i to 2 ins. long, ^ to I in. wide ; dark glossy green and 

 smooth above, paler beneath and downy on the midrib. Flowers solitary, in 

 pairs, or in threes in the terminal leaf-axils, produced from June onwards. 

 Corolla white, blush-tinted, with orange markings in the throat ; I in. long 

 and the same in width across the mouth, where are five ovate lobes ; it has 

 much the shape of a miniature foxglove. Calyx of usually two sepals, but 

 occasionally three or four, persistent. 



Native of China, originally introduced to cultivation by Fortune in 1845, 

 now very rare. It is one of the parents of A. grandiflora, which owes to this 

 species its hardiness and the brilliant green of its leaves, and which appears 

 to have displaced it in gardens. A. uniflora is hardy in the south of England 

 in all but the severest winters. Its flowers are the largest of the cultivated 

 Chinese species, and being abundantly produced make a very pietty display. 



ABIES. SILVER FIRS. CONIFERS. 



A group of about thirty evergreen trees found in Europe. N. Africa, 

 N. Asia, and N. America. They are mostly pyramidal and very 

 symmetrical in form, especially when young, and the finest are from 

 200 to 300 ft. high. They produce their branches in whorls or tiers, one 

 tier yearly. Leaves always linear or nearly so, from -^ to \ in. wide, 

 with invariably two bands of stomata beneath, occasionally lines of 

 stomata above also ; they are always attached to the shoot in a spiral 

 arrangement, but by a twisting at the base are usually made to appear 

 in two opposite sets, the green faces of all uppermost. Female cones 

 always erect, in which respect they differ from those of Picea (the 

 spruces), and from Tsuga (the hemlocks), both of which genera have 

 been, and still are, often called "Abies." There is a simple way of 

 distinguishing a fir (Abies) from a spruce by pulling off a living leaf 

 from the shoots : In the firs the leaf breaks off sharply at the base where 

 it joins the twig, but in the spruces (Picea) it tears away a little of the 

 bark with it. 



The cones are built up of a close spiral arrangement of overlapping, 

 usually more or less fan-shaped scales, to the outer surface of which a 

 bract is always attached. The length of this bract and whether or not 

 it protrudes beyond the scale, affords a good distinguishing character 

 between the species. Seeds are borne in pairs on the inner side of the 

 scales, and are winged. The male flowers occur on branches separate 

 from the females, and are borne on the under side of the branch; anthers 



