1362 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



is peculiar ; but may be explained as a remnant of the pre-glacial forests.^ In habit, 

 P. obovata is usually more columnar than P. excelsa ; but little reliance can be placed 

 on this character as a mark of distinction. 



This species had not been introduced into England in Loudon's ' time ; and it 

 is very doubtful if it occurs in cultivation in this country, except at Bayfordbury, 

 where seedlings were raised in 1908 from seed brought from Siberia by Mr. 

 C. F. H. Leslie. According to Kent," "the Siberian spruce soon perishes under the 

 stimulus of the high temperature of this country." Small trees in botanic gardens 

 reputed to be this species appear to me to belong to the transitional form between 

 P. excelsa and P. obovata, which has less pubescence on the branchlets. Plants 

 raised from Finnish seed, procured from Rafn, are much slower in growth at 

 Colesborne than common spruce. 



In Germany, according to Mayr,* it is slower in growth than the native spruce, 

 and is not more hardy. It appears ' also to be equally slow in growth in the Arnold 

 Arboretum, U.S.A. (A- ^O 



PICEA ORIENTALIS, Caucasian Spruce 



Picea orientalis, Carribre, Conif. 244 (1855); Boissier, Fl. Orient, v. 700 (1884); Masters, in 

 Gard. Chron. xxv. 333, fig. 62 (1886), and Hi. 754, fig. loi (1888); Kent, Veitch's Man. 

 Conif. 443 (1900); Clinton-Baker, Illust. Conif. ii. 44 (1909). 



Pinus orientalis, Linnseus, Sp. PL 1421 (1763); Lambert,* Genus Pinus, i. t. 39, fig. a (1803). 



Abies orientalis, Poiret, in Lamarck, Did. vi. 518 (1804); Loudon, Arb. et Fruit. Brit. iv. 2318 

 (1838). 



A tree, attaining in the Caucasus 1 80 ft. in height and 1 2 ft. in girth. Bark 

 brown, Assuring irregularly on old trees into thin scales. Young branchlets pale 

 brown, slender, densely covered with a short pubescence, retained in the second and 

 third years. Buds conical, acute, about \ in. long, brown ; terminal buds girt at the 

 base with a few keeled acuminate scales. Leaves, on lateral branches arranged as in 

 P. excelsa, very short, i to f in. long, dark green, shining, bevelled and obtuse at 

 the apex, quadrangular in section, with one to four lines of stomata on each of the 

 four surfaces. 



Staminate flowers, cylindrical, ^ in. long, carmine red in colour ; anther 

 connective suborbicular, minutely denticulate. 



Cones, 3 to 4 in. long, f to i in. in diameter when closed, cylindrical but 

 tapering to a narrow apex, violet coloured '' when growing, brown when ripe ; scales 



1 Christ, Flore de la Suisse, 197 (1883), compares the distribution of this spruce with Pinus sylvestris, var. engadinemis, 

 the pine on the Engadine, which he considers to be identical with Pinus lapponica, Mayr, the form of the common pine that 

 occurs in northern Scandinavia and Lapland. Cf. ante, vol. iii. 573. 



2 Cf. Loudon, Trees and Shrubs, 1030(1842). ' Veitch's Afa«. Conif. 442 (1900). 



< Fremdldnd. Wald- u. Parkbdume, 333 (1906). * Sargent, in Garden and Forest, x. 481 (1897). 



' The cones figured by Lambert in this edition, t. 29, fig. b, were from China, and are possibly those of P. aj'anensis, 

 Lambert, in his second edition, t, 39 (1832), gives a new and coloured drawing of leaves and cones, collected by Sir Gore 

 Ouseley near Tiflis, repeating also the figures of the cones from China. 



' The scales of young cones are green, with a narrow carmine-coloured margin. 



