LXXVII. CONI’FERZ: PI’CEA. 1037 
Leaves simple, 2-ranked, exstipulate, evergreen; linear. Flowers yellowish. 
—Trees, natives of Europe, Asia, and North America, generally in regions 
more temperate than those in which the species of spruce abound. Re- 
markable for the regularity and symmetry of their pyramidal heads ; readily 
distinguished from the genus A’bies, by their leaves being more decidedly 
in two rows ; by their cones being upright, and having the scales deciduous ; 
and by the seeds being irregular in form. The nucleus of the seed is ex- 
posed at the inner angle, through a considerable opening in the outer testa, 
as if the junction of the two sides had been ruptured by the rapid enlarge- 
ment of the nucleus. (D. Don.) In Britain, with the exception of P. 
pectinata, they are solely to be considered as ornamental trees. 
The species in British gardens may be thus arranged : — 
A. Natives of Europe, Siberia, and the North-west of Asia, 
1. pectinata. 3. Pinsapo. 5. Pichta. 
2. cephalonica. 4. Nordmanniana. 
B. Natives of North America. 
6. balsamea. 7. Fraseri, 
C. Natives of California. 
8. grandis. 9. amabilis. 10. nédbilis. 11. bracteata. 
D. Natives of Mexico. 
12. religidsa. 13. hirtélla. 
E. Natives of Nepal. 
14, Webbiana. 15. Pindrow. 
A. Natives of Europe, Siberia, and the North-west of Asia. 
2 1. P. pectina‘ra. The Comb-like-/eaved Silver Fir. 
3 i f Pliny ; Pins Picea Lin. Sp. Pl. 1420.; P. A\bies Du Rot Harbk. ed. Pott, 
Sea. ety ‘alba Mill. Dict. No.1.; A. Taxi fdlio Tourn. Inst. P. 585. ; A. vulgaris Puir. 
Dict. Encyc. 6. p.514.; A. pectinata Dec. Fl. Fr. 2. p. 275. ; A. taxifdlia Hort. Par.; A. Picea 
Linal. in Penn. Cyc. Nol.; A. excélsa Link Abhand., &c., jahr 1827, p. 182.; Spanish Fir ; Sapin 
commun, Sapin a Feuilles d’If, Sapin blanc, Sapin argenté, Sapin en Peigne, Sapin de Normandie, 
Fr.; weiss Tanne, Edeltanne, Ger. ; Abete argentino, Ital. f eM 
Engravings. Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., 1. t. 40.; N. Du Ham., 5. t. 82. 5 the plate of this species in Arb. 
Brit., lst edit., vol. viii. ; our fig. 1939. of the natural size, and fig. 1938. to our usual scale. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves solitary, flat, obtuse ; 2-ranked, with their points 
turned up. Cones axillary, cylindrical, erect; scales with a long dorsal 
bractea. Anthers with a short crest, with two teeth. Buds short, egg- 
shaped, blunt ; of.a reddish yellow, with from 16 to 20 blunt scales. Leaves 
from }in. to lin. long, stiff, turned up at the points; of a shining dark 
green above, and with two lines of silvery white on each side of the midrib 
beneath. Cones from 6in. to 8in. long, and from 1} in. to 2in. broad ; 
cylindrical ; green when young, afterwards reddish, and when ripe brown. 
Scale Lin. to 1d in. long, and 14 in. broad. Seeds variously angular, in. 
long, and +; in. broad. Cotyledons 5. A lofty tree. Central Europe, 
and the West and North of Asia; rising on mountains to the commenhce- 
ment of the zone of the Scotch pine. Height 80 ft. to 100 ft., rarely 150 ft. 
Introduced in 1603. The blossoms appear in May, and the cones are ma- 
tured in the October of the following year. 
Varieties. ; 
2 P. p. 2 tortudsa Booth.—Branches and branchlets remarkably twisted 
or crooked. Ne ; 
2 P. p. 3 foliis variegatis. —— Leaves variegated. 
2 P. p. 4 cinerea, Pinus Picea cinérea Baum. Cat. ed. 1835.—A low 
plant with greyish bark, not yet introduced. 
The silver fir is the noblest tree of its genus in appearance, and the only 
species worthy of cultivation in Britain for its timber. The rate of growth 
