XIX. 
SPRUCE FIR. 
Spruce Fir—Abdies—This genus belongs to Monecia 
Monadelphia in the Linnzan system, and to Conifere: in the 
natural order of plants. It consists of several species of 
evergreen trees, natives of Europe, Asia, and America, which 
affect a soft and moist soil, with a cool climate, and are 
generally remarkable for their erect growth and profusion of 
foliage ; the leaves are solitary, and the cones, which ripen 
during the year in which the blossoms are produced, are 
pendant. 
A. excelsa (De Candolle).—The lofty or Norway spruce is 
indigenous to the north of Europe, abounding in Norway, 
Sweden, Lapland, Denmark, and the north of Germany. It 
is the commonest tree of the genus in cultivation throughout 
Britain, and it is believed to be the loftiest tree indigenous 
to Europe. It is of great beauty, of very uniform growth, 
assuming a conical form, and, when allowed sufficient space 
in a congenial soil, it retains, even at an advanced age, its 
branches and luxuriant foliage, down to the surface of the 
ground. 
In some of the more fertile valleys of the native countries 
of the tree, it has been known to attain the height of 180 
feet. 
It was early introduced into Britain, but the precise period 
is not known. The earliest notide of it in England is given 
in the Hortus Kewensis, by Turner, in the middle of the six- 
teenth century. In Britain the tree blossoms in May and 
June, and the cones, which it produces abundantly, become 
ripe in the following winter. 
