688 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



at the same time, as I cannot find the slightest difference to exist 

 between fijTna and brachyphylla, I have as little hesitation in uniting* 

 them. 



13. Pinus {Ahies) hifida, Ant. Conif. p. 79, t. 31, f. 2. Alies lifida, 

 Sieb. and Zucc, Flor. Japon., 2, p. 18, t. 109. Abies Jirma, A. 

 Murray, Conif. of Japan, p. 53. 



Shoots hairy or smooth. Leaves inserted singly all round the stem, 

 but bent so as to form two lateral rows, rarely a few pointing down- 

 wards or upwards. Leaf linear, twisted above the base which is slightly 

 narrowed towards the orbicular insertion, then gradually tapering, 

 with a bifid apex, the two portions being very acute; upper surface 

 bright green, with no stomata, beneath with a band of stomata on 

 each side of the midrib, there being from 10 to 12 rows in each band. 

 Leaves vaiying in length fi'om ^ to 1-|- inch, about ro inch wide at 

 widest part. Buds covered with brownish scales, which are resinous. 



Transverse section of leaf. — Leaf flattened, 3^ times as broad as 

 thick, sides with a rather acute lateral margin ; upper surface convex, 

 with a central longitudinal furrow, midrib not prominent below. 

 Hypoderma well developed, forming a slightly internipted row of 

 cells running from the margin of the resin-canal of one side to the 

 margin of the resin-canal of the other side ; the hypoderm is also 

 developed Tinder the epidermis covering the midrib. The resin-canals 

 are placed, one at each side of the leaf, generally quite close to the 

 epidermis of the under side of the leaf, but in the same leaf the resin- 

 canal may become small, and be separated from the epidermis by one 

 or two chlorophyll-bearing cells. The ground parenchyma of the leaf 

 is distinguished by the occurrence of numerous large thickened pros- 

 enchymatous cells or idioblasts, which are unbranched, and have their 

 long axes parallel to the long axis of the leaf. These idioblasts are a 

 special peculiarity of this species, and are called pseudo-liber fibres 

 by Bertrand. The pallisade tissue is well developed on the upper side, 

 and below is the parenchyma with well-marked intercellular spaces 

 communicating with the stomata. 



Fibro-vascular bundle double, the parts placed close together, with 

 several thickened liber- like cells, sometimes above and always below 

 the bundles, the whole surrounded by a sheath. 



The figure (Plate 47, fig. 15) is drawn from a specimen supplied 

 to me by Messrs. Yeitch & Sons, Chelsea, under the name of Abies 

 firma. 



I have examined five specimens of this, all presenting the marked 

 characteristics of the species. There is a specimen in Kew Herba- 

 rium, marked A. bifida, Sieb. and Zucc, which is the same as this, 

 but I have not examined it microscopically. It is cultivated in the 

 Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, under the correct name of P. 

 bifida, and there is another plant, chtfering only in the smaller size of 

 the leaves, which my father sent as P. sp., Japan. It is the species 

 cultivated in gardens and nurseries as Abies firma, and under that 



