L 



AP. cxin. CONI'FER/E, PPNUS. 2205 



considered as being one of ornament ; and, as such, it deserves to be planted 

 extensively for its very regular and handsome form, and the intensely dark 

 green of its abundant foliage. It also deserves planting on a large scale as a, 

 useful tree, on account of the great rapidity of its growth. In the low 

 districts of Britain, it might probably be a good substitute for P.sylvestris, 



S/alistics. In the Environs of London. In the Horticultural Society's Garden, 12 years planted, it 

 is 25ft. high ; at Muswell Hill, 8 years planted, it is 16 ft. high ; in the Hackney arboretum, from 

 25 ft. to 30 ft. high; at Syou, 40ft. high; at Kew, the tree figured in our last Volume, which is 

 between 80 ft. and 90ft. high. North of London. In Bedfordshire, at Woburn Abbey, 7 years 

 planted, it is 10 ft. high. In Berkshire, at White Knights, ,'J? years planted, it is f>0 ft. high; at 

 Dropmore, 20 ft. high. In Essex, at Audley End, 7 years planted, it is 9 ft. fi in. high. In Hert- 

 fordshire, at Cheshunt, 4 years planted, it is 8 ft. high. In Staffordshire, at Trentham, 6 years 

 planted, it is 16 ft. high. In Suffolk, at Ampton Hall, 12 years old, it is 10 ft. high. 



In Foreign Countries. In France, in the Jardin des Plantes, 55 years planted, it ii 80 ft. high, the 

 diameter of the trunk 2ft. 6 in., and of the head 40 ft. ; at Fromont, in the garden of M. le Che- 

 valier Soulange-Bodin, it is 42ft. high, the diameter of the trunk, at 6ft. from the ground, 1ft. 

 4 in. ; in Brittany, at Barres, 12 years planted, it is 2t ft. high ; at Nantes, in the nursery of M. 

 Nerrieres, 15 years planted, it is 25ft. high ; in the Botanic Garden at Metz, 18 years grafted, it is 

 24ft. high ; at M. Brunei's, at Avranches, 20 years : planted, it is 40ft. high ; in the Park at Cler- 

 vaux, 42 years planted, it is "8 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. Gin., and of the head 32 ft. 

 In Hanover, at Harbecke, 10 years planted, it is 16 ft. high. 



Commercial Statistics. Plants, in the London nurseries, are Is. 6d. each ; 

 and at Bollwyller, 1 franc; but, if there were a demand for them, they would 

 doubtless be procured at 30s. or 40,?. per thousand. 



1 8. P. (L.) AUSTRI^ACA H'dss. The Austrian, or black, Pine. 



Identification. Hoss Anleit. , p. 6. ; Lawson's Manual, p. 388. 

 Si/noni/nics. P. nigricans Hort. ; P. nigrescens Hart. ; schwartz Fo'hre, Gcr. 



En<i>-(wint>s. Fig. 2085., showing the bud of a plant of two years' growth in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden. 



Spec. Char., $c. Sheath with from 3 to 5 rings, at first of a clear ash grey, 

 then becoming reddish, afterwards darker, and at last black. Leaves 

 from 2 in. to 5 in. long; seldom, and but little, twisted ; when young, 

 erect; when older, standing out, and curved towards the twig ; outer 

 surface half round, dark green, glossy, and with a sharply serrated 

 margin ; inner surface nearly even, but slightly dotted along the 

 ridge ; points prickly, of a yellowish brown or fawn colour. Buds 

 large, the leader often from 1 in. to lin. long, ovate, with a long 

 point Scales dark brown, thinner at the margin and point, and fur- 

 nished with whitish fringe ; the lower ones curving back from the bud; 

 the inner ones collapsed, and incrusted with white resin. Flowers 

 produced about the end of May. Male catkins on short pedun- 

 cles, oblong, cylindrical, round, or bluntly pointed, becoming conical S 005 

 after arriving at maturity, placed many together in verticillate bundles round 

 the bottom of the young shoots. The female catkins two or three, or occa- 

 sionally more, together, with rather long peduncles from the extremity of the 



conical, rounded at the base, 2 in. or 3 in. long, pointing horizontally, or 

 nearly so; of a light yellow brown, polished, and shining. Seeds very closely 



resembling those of P. Laricio; and the cotyledons 6 or 8, as in that species. 

 Trunk cylindrical. Bark very thick, of a blackish ash-green, marked with 

 reddish brown spots. Scales deeply and longitudinally cleft; the fissures of a 

 uniform reddish brick-colour, lighter than that of Picea pectinata. The 

 branches are produced in regular whorls, at first inclined upwards towards 

 the trunk, then spreading horizontally, and finally drooping at the extremity. 

 In full-grown trees, the top becomes flat and spreading to a great extent. 

 The bark of the shoots of the current year is of a greenish yellow, regu- 

 larly and deeply raised by the insertions of the leaves, furrowed, and 

 shining. (Ross's Gemeinfassliche Anleitung, &c., p. 8.; and Laivson's Manual 

 p. 339.) 



Geography and History. P. austriaca grows naturally in Austria, in the 

 Breima Forest (Wienerwald), the Banate, upon the Demoglet, near Me- 

 hadia ; and, in the neighbourhood of the Snowy Mountains, it grows at higher 

 altitudes than Plcea pectinata. It prefers a deep, dry, calcareous sand ; 



