PYGMY TREES 



nated several years ago in the nurseries of the Arnold 

 Arboretum and promises to be of value as a decorative 

 plant. Also, of the White Spruce {P. glauca) there 

 is a diminutive form {nana) which has been known 

 for nearly a hundred years. The most delightful 

 of dwarf Spruces and a most charmingly attractive 

 plant is that being distributed under the erroneous 

 name of Picea Alhertiana. It is of narrow, 

 pyramidal growth with short, close-set, twiggy 

 branches and is densely clothed with almost pellucid 

 grass-green leaves of singular delicacy. It much 

 resembles the Summer Cypress (Kochia scoparia), 

 and for its successful cultivation requires a moist 

 soil and a shady situation with protection from strong 

 winds. It is essentially an alpine plant and is 

 really a dwarf form of the western variety of the White 

 Spruce (Picea glauca var. alhertiana) and has recently 

 been named f. conica by Rehder. Its history is 

 simple. In 1904 Mr. J. G. Jack of the Arnold Arbore- 

 tum collected near Laggan, Alberta, some seedling 

 plants of what he thought was the var. alhertiana. 

 These he sent home where they developed into the 

 lovely plant above described. 



The Firs have produced but few dwarf forms. The 

 oldest known is the var. hudsonica of the common 

 Balsam Fir but this has very little horticultural value. 

 Of the common European Fir (Abies Picea) there is a 



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