CONIFER.^. 77 



and Py<jin(ea, (the dwarf,) all of them useful for ornamental pui'poses, 

 in soils and situations suitable for them. 



RetiNOSPORA PisIFERA : The Pea-Fruited. 



This kind is smaller in size, with slenderer branclilets, and darker 

 coloured bark than the preceding one ; rich in its sj^ray and foliage, 

 and gracefid in form. Its varieties are : Argentea, (the silver}-,) 

 Aurexi, (the golden,) and Pygmcea, (the dwarf,) all of them the 

 prettiest little beauties the eye can look upon ; but good soil, 

 warmth, and shelter are necessary to their life and growth in our islands. 



RETINOSPORA SQUARROSA: Tlie Squarrose. 



This is a large bush, rich in its glaucous green foliage, and gracefully 

 curved spray ; symmetrical in form, and a most beautiful shrub. Its 

 varieties are : — Argentea, (the silvery,) Aurea, (the golden,) Leptocladuti, 

 (the small-branched.) All of which are pretty shrubs, but, like their 

 congeners in this Sub-Section, aU dainty in theix choice of soil, and 

 very particular about warmth and shelter, which are essentials to their 

 development in the British Isles. 



S.D. lY. GiGANTABIES : The Giant or Mammoth Fir. 



From Hebrew J>^DT, ^2"^^^, oi' C^'^'lpp ; Greek ytyac ; Latin 

 Gigas ; English "Giant:" and Hebrew l^J^, Greek airioQ, Latin 

 Abies, English" Fir:"- — hence Gigaxtabies : the Giant or Mammoth 

 Fir. 



Homer's fantasy. — tkarrf ovpavofxrjKric, " the Fir reaching heaven in 

 height ! " (Odyssey lib. v, 222,) is, indeed, a TrapacppaaLQ of fiction, if 

 not a Trpoo-wTTOTTona of fact ; be this as it may, however, imagination, 

 poetic fancy, and love for the Firs and Pines would well nigh 

 indulge the idea that Homer well knew our Giant Fir. 



In this S.D. we have two specifically distinct, yet closely allied and 

 cognate Firs : in their habit of growth, construction of ligneous tissue, 

 formation of concentric growth, and in their floral organs, development 

 and construction of cones and seeds, and their annual deposits of wood, 

 longitudinally and transversally closely related to each other ; but 

 differing in a more or less marked degree, in these characteristics, from 

 the other genera of Pinacese ; for, however truthful and correct the 

 theory of " annual concentric ring gi'owths," in conjecturing the age 

 of most of the Firs and Pines, it is as untruthful as it is untenable, 

 in compiiting the age of Gigantabies — the very " Giants " — the 

 veritable " Anakims " of Pinacese. 



