31? 



DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



and North America, which are cultivated in English 

 parks and gardens. Such are the American white and 

 red and black spruces, the Siberian, the Oriental, the 

 Servian, and the tiger's-tail Japanese spruce. Then 

 there is the beautiful variety of the blue American spruce, 



Picea pungens. The blue- 

 grey colour of the needles is 

 frequently obtained as a 

 " variety " in the cultivation 

 of different species of coni- 

 fers, as also is the yellow, 

 or golden-leaved, condition. 



In the genus Abies, asso- 

 ciated with the silver fir, are 

 a whole series of American, 

 Siberian, and Japanese 

 species. An interesting one 

 is the Californian Abies 

 bracteata, which has thorn- 

 like processes on the cone 

 2 inches in length, cor- 

 responding to the re-curved 

 spines on the cone of the 

 silver fir. It was introduced 

 into England in 1853, and 

 specimens are growing in 

 Eastnor Park, near Ledbury. 

 The beautiful pinsapo of the 

 Spanish Sierra Nevada also belongs to the genus Abies, 

 and may be seen in some English plantations. The 

 Tsuga firs of Japan and North America are related to 

 Abies, but are now placed in a separate genus (Tsuga), 

 as also is the Douglas fir of North America (Pseudo- 

 tsuga), which has been extensively planted in Great Britain. 



B 



Fig. 37. 

 A, The female cone 

 of the Common 

 Spruce, Picea ex- 

 celsa. Half the 

 natural size 

 (linear measure- 

 ment). It hangs 

 from its attach- 

 ment instead of 

 standing up as 

 A does the cone of 



the silver fir. 

 B, Ripe cone-scale of the Common 

 Spruce, detached and seen from 

 the inner face, so as to show the 

 two winged seeds. Enlarged. 



