THE NEW TREE BEAUTY 273 



known Conifer, of which the varieties aurea, glauca and 

 albo-variegata are good ; the last has a creamy terminal 

 shoot which lights up the whole tree. Sabina, the Savin 

 Juniper, and Virginiana, the red Juniper, are good 

 species ; pendula is a drooping form of the latter. There 

 is a variegated form of Sabina. 



The common Larch is one of the cheapest of all the 

 Conifers ; but it is worth while to pay a little more for 

 the Japanese species leptolepis, which is a rapid grower 

 with graceful plumose foliage. The Larches are admired 

 for the tender tint of their young foliage in spring. 



The Incense Cedar, Libocedrus decurrens, is a hand- 

 some and distinct Conifer of columnar growth, and is a 

 good tree for a large lawn. 



The Piceas or Spruce Firs are allied to the Abies or 

 Silver Firs ; and in many of the tree catalogues the 

 Piceas are grouped with the Abies, Picea being regarded 

 as a botanists' name. P. Alcockiana, the Japanese 

 Spruce ; P. excelsa, the common European Spruce ; 

 Morinda (syn. Smithiana), nigra, polita and pungens are 

 thus affected. There are several varieties of excelsa, 

 such as clanbrassiliana, aurea, elegans, pendula, Remontii 

 and pygmaea, the last a small bush. There is a popular 

 variety of pungens called glauca which carries a bluish 

 bloom ; this also is suitable for a border owing to its 

 small, stiff growth. 



The genus Pinus is generally represented by Austriaca, 

 the Austrian Pine, a cheap, hardy and useful tree, but 

 somewhat sombre ; Cembra, the Swiss Stone Pine ; 

 Coulteri (syn. macrocarpa), the Calif ornian Pine ; excelsa, 

 the Himalayan Pine ; insignis, the Monterey Pine ; 

 Laricio, the Corsican Pine ; montana, the Mountain 

 Pine ; Pinea, the Stone Pine ; Pinaster, the Cluster 

 Pine; Strobus, the Weymouth Pine; and sylvestris, 



