Pines found in the Taurian Caucasus. 225 



It is really wonderful how much authors differ in their descrip- 

 tions of the scales and bracts of strobiles. Tournefort (Inst., 

 t. 353.) states that the bract equals the scale in length, and has a 

 rather obtuse recurved point. Du Roi (Harbk. isoilde Baumz., 

 2. 135.) says that a slender point descends from the middle of a 

 dark-coloured, dry, toothed tubercle (Erhabenheit). This point 

 Reichenbach (Flor. Germ, excurs. n. 963.) and Richard, jun., 

 (Diet. Class. Sc. Nat., t. 5. p. 153.) ascribe to the scale itself. 

 JDe Candolle, citing Gaertner, affirms the bracts to be altogether 

 absent, hastily confounding it with P.. Ambles L. Link (Linncea, 



1. c.) states that the bract equals the scale in length ; while Le- 

 debour (Fl. Alt., 4. 202.) says that it is longer, but is silent as to 

 its form, though he accurately describes that of the other species. 

 On account of this obscurity, the diagnosis of the following 

 species may not be correct as to the bractea. I may further add, 

 that the figure in Lamarck's Encycl. III. Gen., t. 785. g, is the 

 cone of P. ^fbies L., and not of P. Picea, for which it has been 

 cited by Poiret (Encyc. v. Sapin). 



The name of .^Tbies excelsa has been in felicitously given to 

 this species by Link ; Lamarck, Richard, and De Candolle 

 having previously adopted it for the Pinus v^fbies L., P. vulgaris 

 Link. It would have been far better to retain the name of 

 ^4 v bies Picea now given by others to this of ours, than to open a 

 door to new errors and intricate synonymy. 



2. Vlnus Nordmannmna mihi. Leaves solitary, curved upwards, 



of unequal length. Strobiles erect, ovate ; scales very ob- 

 tuse ; bracts cuneate, with the apex reflexed, obcordate, 

 long-mucronate, incumbent on the lower scale. {Jig. 43.) 



Discovered by Nordmann, on the summit of Adshar, above 

 Guriel, towards the sources of the Kur, on the banks of the 

 Nataneb, at the height of 6000 ft. Wittmann, now gardener at 

 Odessa, observed it on the southern declivity of the mountains 

 between Cartalin and Achalzich, about Azchur, as far up as the 

 alpine region, growing amongst ^ N bies orientalis. He has trans- 

 mitted specimens to me, with the following remarks : — " This is 

 a still finer tree than the preceding (P. argentea, infra). Its 

 trunk is exceedingly straight, and above 80 ft. high; it is 3 ft. in 

 diameter, with the smooth bark of P. alba. The branches are 

 dense, about 2 in. scarcely ever 3 in. thick, and regularly dis- 

 posed ; the lower horizontal, the upper springing at a more acute 

 angle. At from 14 to 17 years old it begins to bear fruit at top. 

 When full-grown, the whole crown is covered, from a fourth 

 part of its height, with large, conical, erect strobiles, solitary, or 

 in twos or threes, and covered with a resinous exudation. The 

 seeds ripen about the end of September, when they immediately 

 fall off with the scales, the axis often remaining for the whole 



Vol. XV. — No. 110. it 



