Picea 



*347 



and Viatka. Korskinsky states ' that the typical form of P. excelsa occurs only in 

 western Russia in the region adjoining the German plain ; and the varieties which he 

 describes as occurring in central and northern Russia, and linking P. obovata with 

 P. excelsa, seem to me to be simply P. obovata with cones slightly larger than those 

 occurring in the Ural range. 



Von Sievers 2 says that the spruce is the only shade-bearing tree in the Baltic 

 provinces, and attains in favourable situations a height of 160 feet. It occurs naturally 

 on better soil than the pine (which occupies poor sandy soil) and competes 

 with the birch and alder on clay, thriving well on deep peat, if this is rich in 

 mineral salts. 



The original conifer of Norway was Pinus sylvestris, the remains of which are 

 found everywhere in peat mosses. The spruce is a late emigrant from Sweden and 

 Lapland. It occupies in Norway three distinct regions : 3 



A. The spruce is found in the far north in isolated stations, as on the Varanger- 

 fjord, lat. 69 30', at Karasjok, lat. 68 30', and at Saltdalen, on the west coast, lat. 

 67 10'.* The spruce here is P. obovata, these stations being outposts of the north 

 Russian spruce, which extends eastwards through Enara Lapland to the Kola 

 peninsula, and through Swedish Lapland from Sulitjelma to Palojuensun on the 

 Muonio river. 



B. In the Trondhjem district the spruce reaches the coast, and is connected with 

 the northern Swedish spruce, through four passes in the range separating Norway 

 from the Swedish province of Jemtland. This spruce is P. obovata!' 



C. In southern Norway the spruce, which appears to be P. excelsa, occupies a 

 distinct area, separated from the last by the Dovre-fjeld, and continuous with the 

 spruce forests of south Sweden, there being no high mountains intervening between 

 the two countries for a considerable distance north of Svinesund. Throughout this 

 region, no remains of the spruce have been found in peat mosses, though those of the 

 common pine are plentiful ; and the spruce is evidently a late emigrant, not having 

 yet reached the west coast. Through Romsdal, Bergenhus, and Stavanger provinces, 

 and the district of Lister, the area covered by forest is not extensive, the principal 

 trees being pine and birch, while the spruce is rarely if ever found wild, except in the 

 inland district of Voss, situated about 40 miles east of Bergen. According to 

 Schlibeler, the spruce ascends on the Jotunfjeld to 3250 feet, and in Hallingdal 

 to 3400 feet. South and east of the mountains, the greater part of the very extensive 

 forest area consists of spruce, mixed to some extent with pine and birch. The 

 Norwegian spruce is said to contain a relatively small amount of resin, and is there- 

 fore largely used in the production of mechanical and chemical wood-pulp, an 

 industry, which in some places has begun to threaten the continued existence of the 

 spruce forests. The spruce bark is also used for tanning. 



1 Tent. Fl. Ross. Orient. 494 (1898). Forst. Verhalt. Bait. Prov. 18 (1903). 



3 Cf. Sernander, in Engler, Bot. Jahrbiich. xv. 3 (1893). 



* Elwes found it here in 1903 only as a rare isolated tree, and was told that the Ranenfjord, 50 miles south was its real 

 northern limit. 



5 Specimens collected at Trondhjem and at Bracke in Sweden are identical, and are indistinguishable from specimens 

 gathered in Perm in north-eastern Russia. 



