riCi:A, oil TIIK SIIA'KR FIRS. 53 



lum1)ia and Vancouver's Island. Douglas originally sent its set ds 

 to England in 1831, and from whicli but very few plants were 

 raised, and of which plants the only one that seems to have suf- 

 vived was one originally in the fine collection of conifers be- 

 longing to the Rev. Theodore Williams, of Hcndon, and which, 

 after passing through different hands, was at last purchased 

 by the late Earl of Harrington, and planted at Elvaston Castle, 

 in Derbyshire, and from which plant all the earlier ones to be 

 found in collections were derived. No collector seems again 

 to have fallen in wfth or found the true Picea grandis of Douglas 

 until very recently ; wlien Mr. Bridges collected a quantity of 

 its seeds on Vancouver's Island, and in British Columbia, and 

 sent them to London for sale, in the months of March and 

 December, 1859, first under the name of Picea sp. Vancouver's 

 Island, and lastly as that of Picea grandis. This kind must not be 

 confounded with a new and very distinct species sent to Messrs. 

 Low and Co., of the Clapton Nursery, by their collectoi*, Mr. 

 William Lobb, from California, under the misapplied name of 

 Picea grandis^ and which kind I propose calling Picea Lowiana, 

 in order to distinguish it from the true Picea grandis of 

 Douglas, as much confusion has arisen both in the Nurseries 

 and in private collections from the misapplication of the name 

 {grandis) by Mr. Lobb. The original plant of Picea grandis, 

 raised from Douglas's seed in 1831, and now growing at El- 

 vaston Castle, places the identity of the true grandis beyond 

 any doubt. 



It is quite hardy, not having been in the leas't injured by the 

 winter of 1860-1 ; but the plants suffer more or less from the 

 late Spring frosts, as they commence growing early in the season^ 

 which is not the case with either Picea Lowiana or amabilis. 



Picea Lowiana, Gordon, Messrs Low's Californian Silver 



Fir. 

 Syn. Picea grandis, Lohh, not Douglas. 

 „ „ lasiocarpa, Horl. 

 Leaves long, linear, flat, and quite straight, channelled above. 



