470 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



tree is sold in England and in America under 

 the name of balsam, or balm of Gilead, although 



The Silver Fir. 



the true balm of Gilead is produced from a 

 totally different tree, the amyris Gileadensis. 



Two new species of conifersc, of more gigantic 

 dimensions than any that have hitherto been 

 described in Europe or America, have been found 

 by Mr David Douglas, a most enterprizing botan- 

 ist, who was sent out by the Horticultural 

 Society of London in 1825, to explore the west 

 coast of North America. He returned from that 

 country in the autumn of 1827, bringing with 

 him a rich addition to the known catalogue of 

 plants. These pines are : — 



1. Pinus Douglasii. This pine grows to the 

 height of two hundred and thirty feet, and is 

 upwards of fifty feet in circumference at the base. 

 It has a rough corky bark, from an inch to twelve 

 inches thick. The leaves resemble those of the 

 spruce, and the cones are small. The timber is 

 of good quality, and very heavy. This pine was 

 found by Mr Douglas on the banks of the Colum- 

 bia, where it forms extensive forests, extending 

 from the shores of the Pacific to the Stoney 

 Mountains. 



2. Pinus Lambertiana.'^ This species of pine 

 was discovered in Northern California, where it 

 is dispersed over large tracts of country, but does 

 not form dense forests like most of the other 

 pines. It is a very majestic tree; and one speci- 

 men which, in consequence of its having been 

 blown down, Mr Douglas was enabled to measure, 

 was two hundred and fifteen feet in length, fifty- 

 seven feet nine inches in circumference at three 

 feet from the root, and seventeen feet five inches 

 at one hundred and thirty-four feet. It is pro- 

 bably the largest single mass of timber that ever 

 was measured by man, though some of the grow- 



• The name of this pine was given to it as a tribute 

 to lanibert, the author of a most splendid work on the 

 guDOS rinui. 



ing specimens of the same pine were evidently of 

 greater elevation. The trunk of the Lamberti- 

 ana is straight, and clear of branches for about 

 two-thirds of the height. The bark is uncom- 

 monly smooth, and the whole tree has a most 

 graceful appearance. The cones resemble those 

 of the Weymouth pine, but are much larger, 

 being on an average at least sixteen inches in 

 length. The seeds are eaten roasted, or pounded 

 into cakes. The tree bears a considerable resem- 

 blance to the spruces; and as is the case with 

 them, its turpentine is of a pure amber colour, 

 and the timber soft, white, and light. One sin- 

 gular property of this tree is, that when the tim- 

 ber is partly burned the tui-pentine loses its pecu- 

 liar flavour, and acquires a sweetish taste. It is 

 used by the natives as a substitute for sugar. 



The Larch (larix communis) is, after the 

 common pine, probably the most valuable of the 

 tribe. The name seems derived from the Celtic 

 lar, fat, in allusion to the resinous juice which 

 it exudes. Dioscorides remarks that larix is 

 the Gallic name for resin. Though a native of 

 the mountains of more southern regions, it thrives 

 uncommonly well in Britain; and as it grows 

 more rapidly, and also in more varied soils than 

 the other, it is, perhaps, better adapted for gene- 

 ral cultivation. In the south it attains an immense 

 height; some single beams of larch, employed in 

 the palaces and public buildings of Venice, being 

 said to be one hundred and twenty feet long. 

 Even in the plantations of the Duke of Athol, 

 and other proprietors in Perthshire, some larches 

 are at least one hundred feet high. The wild 

 alternation of hill and valley in that county, 

 with the general opening of the glens and expo- 

 sure of the surface to the south, seem to aft'ord 

 the larch a situation something like its native 

 locality in the Tyrolese and Dalmatian Alps; 

 for though other trees, and some of them fast 

 growing ones, such as the spruce, have been 

 planted at the same time, the larch overtops them 

 all; and in summer, when it is in the full luxu- 

 riance of its leaves (which are a bright clover 

 green), it rises over the dark forest like an obe- 

 lisk of beryl. The larch sheds its loaves, and 

 is probably by that means saved from those keen 

 blasts of the very early spring that prove destruc- 

 tive to pines. Even when naked it is an orna- 

 mental tree. The trunk is generally straight, 

 tapering gradually to a point ; the branches, 

 which are rather small in proportion to the tree, 

 taper up in the form of a perfect cone ; and the 

 whole is of a lively brown, streaked with a golden 

 colour. 



A few larches are said to have been introduced 

 into this country in the earlypart of the seventeenth 

 century, as rarities ; but it only began to be cul- 

 tivated as a forest tree about the middle of the 

 eighteenth century. Since that time it has been 

 extensively planted, more especially in Scotland; 



