426 Contfere—A bies. 
Some authors go even farther and unite this with Pinus, and 
include Cédrus, Livia, etc. The species are confined to the 
northern hemisphere, and especially abundant in the temperate, 
less common in the arctic and warmer regions. The derivation 
of the generic name is obscure. 
§ 1. Leaves needle-shaped or linear, scattered all around the 
shoots. Cones pendulous when mature.—AbBies and Tste@a. 
1. A. excilsa (fig. 217). Norway Spruce or Spruce Fir.— 
This handsome hardy evergreen tree is unsurpassed in the 
rich warm hue of its 
dense dark green foliage 
and the regularity of its 
pyramidal or conical out- 
line. It is as familiar 
as our commonest native 
trees, and therefore we 
are justified in passing 
it by without description. 
There are numerous va- 
rieties, a few of which 
are very remarkable and 
worthy of a place in even 
a small collection. The 
most curious and inter- 
esting are as follows :— 
Clanbrasiliana, a dwarf 
slow-growing spreading 
densely - branched shrub 
with short closely-packed 
leaves, never exceeding 
3 or 4 feet in height; 
a pyymea, or nana, is 
a still more diminutive 
form, about a foot high ; 
ess pérdula has graceful 
drooping branches ; an- 
vérta has pendulous branches and larger foliage than the type ; 
monstrosa has very stout branches and large foliage ; pyra- 
midelis is a slow-vrowing dwarf variety of conical shape ; and 
horizontalis is of irregular dwarf habit with long trailing 
branches. We have by no means exhausted the list of varie- 
ate ; 
eS eS 
Vig. v17, Abies excelsa, 
