1 30 Arbor i cultural Notices. 



cone, as in P. 5lrdbus. The seed is winged, and is only I in. long ; towards 

 the top, where it is broadest, its width is" from 8 to 12 lines. It is small in 

 proportion to the cone. The wing has almost the appearance of the upper 

 wings of many small moths. It is brownish, with dark stripes running length- 

 wise. The receptacle is only a few lines long. The cones are often either 

 bent or crooked, which is also the case with those of P. tftrobus and many 

 others. The scales have not their points always bent down, but some of them 

 stand out horizontally, while the lowest scales are bent quite backwards." 

 (IAnncea, p. 492.) 



We have translated the above descriptions at length, in the hope that they 

 may be of some use to the botanical collectors now in Mexico, or about to be 

 sent thither. In our next Number we shall translate the descriptions of 

 C'upressus thurffera H. B. Sp Kunth, C. s&binbides H. B. & Kunth, .Amiperus 

 mexicana Schiede, J. florida Schl., J. tetragona SckL, and Taxus globosa Schl. 



The following paragraphs respecting the Jbietinas are collected from 

 different sources : — 



P. nigricans (P. Laricio var. austriaca, Arb. Brit, p 2205.) has remark- 

 ably strong buds, silvery white, as well as the sheaths of the leaves, which are 

 stiff, long, and sharp, and expand almost horizontally round the shoot. This, 

 with the darkness of the foliage, makes the white silvery young shoot in the 

 centre very conspicuous. In most pines, the leaves tend forwards like a cup, 

 so as to hide the young shoots. The bud itself is cylindrical-topped, with a 

 low cone, terminating in a long point. The trunk of P. nigricans is larger in 

 bulk than that of P. sylvestris in the Austrian forests. — W. Fox Strangways. 

 Dec., 1838. 



We have since been favoured by Mr. Strangways with a branch of P. nigri- 

 cans, the buds of which confirm us in our opinion that it is a variety of P. 

 Laricio, as indicated in the Arboretum Britannicum. — Cond. 



P. pithyiisa. — A cone, with this name attached, has been sent us by the 

 Hon. W. F. Strangways. The termination of the scales is, in form and 

 smoothness, like that of those of P. halepensis, Arb. Brit. p. 2231., and the 

 cone has a strong woody peduncle, like that species; whence we conclude the 

 tree to be either identical with P. halepensis, or a variety of it. Mr. Strang- 

 ways received the cone from Circassia. 



P. persica ? — To Mr. Strangways we are also indebted for a cone with this 

 name attached. The shape is somewhat like the cone of P. Pinea, and the 

 seeds are large, with gibbous wings. Some seeds of this pine have, we 

 believe, come up in the Horticultural Society's garden. 



A s bies communis var. pendula. — The Earl of Aberdeen informs us that 

 M. Risso told him, in 1825, that he had seen a very remarkable variety of the 

 common spruce, with drooping branches, in some elevated parts of the 

 mountains about Nice ; but that he had not then had an opportunity of getting 

 plants or seeds. This variety may be worth the attention of cultivators. 



A s bics cephalonica, Arb. Brit. p. 2325., and Hort. Lig. p. 122. — In the 

 summer of 1838, through the kindness of General Sir Charles James Napier, 

 two hogsheads of cones, collected in the Island of Cephalonia, from what 

 were supposed to be trees of the above species, were shipped for us at Corfu. 

 When they arrived in the port of London we examined them, and found that 

 they had fermented during the voyage, and were useless. We further ob- 

 served that the cones were, to all appearance, those of the common silver fir. 

 We were confirmed in this opinion by some small branches, with leaves, which 

 were attached to some of the cones, and one of which branches is in our pos- 

 session. Under these circumstances we declined paying the duty (6d. per lb.); 

 and the nearly rotten cones were, of course, thrown away by the custom-house 

 officers. General Napier kindly wrote again to his friend in Corfu, and a 

 third cask of cones arrived in November. These had still the appearance of 

 being the cones of the common silver fir ; but, as there were no branches or 

 leaves among them, we thought it possible, as suggested in Capt. Cook's 

 paper, that the /f bies cephalonica might not be an yJ N bies, but merely a va- 

 riety of Picea pectinata. The cones being in better preservation than those 



