Description of the Vicea Pinsapo. Ill 



The wood of the P. Pinsapo is very resinous, and resembles in 

 colour and structure that of the P. pectinata. 



M. Boissier is preparing to publish a flora of those parts of 

 Spain to which his botanical researches have extended, which 

 will contain about 100 species of that country new to botanists, 

 all of which he intends to figure ; and among these the P. Pin- 

 sapo will be included, respecting which, however, he intends 

 getting more minute information before publishing; and, as a 

 specimen of the work, gives, among others, the following de- 

 scription of this tree. 



A^bies Pinsapo — Foliis super ramos cylindrice dispositis, 5 — 3 

 lineas longis, subteretibus, apice integris ; strobilis ovato-cylin- 

 dricis ; squamis bracteolaribus inclusis, carpellis multo breviori- 

 bus. (Bibl. Univer. de Geneve, torn. xiii. p. 406.) 



Leaves disposed around the branches, from three to five 

 lines long, nearly terete, and entire at the apex ; cones ovate- 

 cylindric, with the bracts concealed by the scales, or carpels, and 

 much shorter than these are. 



N.B. The feet are marked in the preceding as in the original, 

 and consequently are according to French measure ? 



We have obtained one plant, from M. Cels, Paris, of the P. 

 Pinsapo, a one year's seedling, which is, of course, too small to 

 show any of the characteristics of this highly interesting fir, 

 which, by the preceding description, appears to us nearly allied to 

 the A. cephalonica. This, however, cannot as yet be determined. 

 Edinburgh, Jan. 23. 1839. 



P.S. — Since the MS. of the preceding part of this article 

 was sent to press, we have received the following information 

 from M. Vilmorin : — 



The Pinsapo is extremely like the Picea pectinata, more 

 especially in the cone and seeds. Must we call it a species, or 

 a variety ? You have seen that M. Boissier assigns to it several 

 characters very distinctive. What makes me incline towards his 

 opinion is, that, in coming up, the seed leaves are sensibly dif- 

 ferent from those of P. pectinata. There are one or two more 

 cotyledons in the Pinsapo ; and they are larger, straighter, and less 

 smooth, than in the Sapin commun (P. pectinata). On a speci- 

 men that I received, in a very bad state, from the mountains of 

 Bonda, only one small branch had preserved its leaves ; and 

 these present a decided difference between the Pinsapo and the 

 common silver fir. The seeds distributed here last year, by M. 

 Boissier, have produced several plants at the Jardin des Plantes, 

 and at Cels's, and five or six with me. — Vilmorin. Paris, 

 Feb. 2. 1839. 



