THE SCOTS FIR. 



Pi'nus st/lves'tris L. 



Pew contrasts in the plant-world are more striking 

 than that between the ever-changing charms of our 

 southern woodlands — the winter tracery of bare 

 branches, the verdure of spring, and the golden 

 glories of autumn — on the one hand, and the sombre 

 and monotonous grandeur of the dark bluish foliage 

 and tawny stems of the Pines of the north. 



We need not hesitate to say that it is only in 

 Scotland we now have the Pine in a wild state ^ and 

 we accordingly speak of it as the Scots Pine or Fir. 

 Some writers attempt to restrict the name Eir to the 

 Spruces and Silver Firs, and to translate the name 

 Pinus only by the word Pine; but popular usage 

 cliilgs to the name of English origin for our only 

 truly indigenous member of the group. This noble 

 tree, known to botanists as P- sylvestris L., occurs 

 in the mountains of southern Europe, reaching the 

 altitude of 7,000 feet on Mount Etna, and in the 

 lower ground of higher latitudes, being found in the 

 Scottish Highlands at an altitude of 2,200 feet above 

 the sea. It also forms a vast belt of forest land from 

 Kamschatka across Siberia and Kussia into Prussia 

 Sweden, and Norway ; whilst in former ages it spread 

 equally over the lowlands of Denmark, England, and 

 Ireland, as is proved by its occurrence beneath the peat- 

 bogs and in the submerged forests of these countries. 



° 45 41 



