200 PICEA, OE 



M. Schmidt, however, had never seen the tree, not Was any one 

 aware of its peculiarities until Messrs. Balsamaki and Origoni, 

 two inspectors of the toyal forests, reached Khrysovitsi, a 

 vUlage in central Arcadia, near Tripolizza, in the Morea, where, 

 at an elevation of about 1500 feet above the sea, they dis- 

 covered a whole forest of this fir, stretching in a north-westerly 

 direction towards Alonistena, and covering Mount Ehoudia 

 and the adjacent valleys, thus having an extent of above three 

 leagues in length and one and a half broad. It is called by 

 the country people " Hemeron Elaton" (tame fir), on account 

 of the lower situations of its forests on the mountains, and the 

 ready means for obtaining its timber for domestic purposes, 

 while on the other hand they apply the term " Agrion Elaton" 

 (wild fir) to the Picea Cephalonica, because of the inaccessible 

 and lofty places where it in general grows. The inhabitants 

 living near the large fir forests are in the habit of ringing the 

 stems, or cutting off the heads of the more vigorous trees at 

 about two or three feet from the ground, for the purpose of 

 obtaining the resin which flows from the wounds and upper 

 part of the stumps, and which stumps afterwards throw out a 

 number of symmetrically-formed shoots, the principal ones of 

 which eventually, if undisturbed, become leaders, and form 

 stems frequently twenty feet high and one foot in diameter. 



No. 2. PiCEA BALSAMEA, Loudon, the Balm of Gilead Fir. 

 Syn. Abies balsamifera, MichoAioo. 

 „ „ minor, Buhamel. 

 „ „ balsamea, Miller. 

 „ Pinus balsamea, Linnceus. 

 „ Pence balsamea, Richard. 



Leaves solitary, entire, or emarginated at the points, irregu- 

 larly two-rowed, or scattered round the leading shoots, spread- 

 ing, flat, silvery beneath, and bright deep green above, three- 

 quarters of an inch long, and thickly set on the branches. Cones 

 cylindrical, slightly tapering to both ends, erect on the upper 



