CHAP. CXIII, 



CONl'FER^E. Pl'cF.A. 



2345 



white beneath, emarginate at the apex. 

 Catkins lateral, sessile ; having at the base 

 many, short, closely imbricated scales, round 

 ami membranaceous in the male, and broad 

 ovate in the female. Male catkins numerous, 

 cylindrical, slender, simple, springing from 

 the lower side of the extremities of the 

 branches : stamens monadelphous : anthers 

 short, obcuneate, on short stalks, imbricated 

 backwards, having at the apex a convex 

 somewhat kidney-shaped crest; conical and 

 2-horned above ; horns very short, obtuse, 

 divaricate. Female catkins solitary, oblong, 

 cylindrical, erect ; 1 in. long, dark purple : 

 scales short, roundish, wedge-shaped, membranaceous on the margin, re- 

 pando-denticulate, recurved at the apex, mucronate. Cones solitary, erect, 

 obtuse, cylindrical ; 4 in. to 6 in. long, and l^in. to 2 in. in diameter, pro- 

 ceeding from the upper side of the extremities of the branches ; of an intense 

 purple; full of resin, which exudes in numerous transparent pendulous glo- 

 bules, yielding by expression a purple pigment. Scales short, broad-wedge- 

 shaped, much dilated at the apex ; leathery, roundish, quite entire, inflexed, 

 densely imbricated, with a very short, mutic, persistent scale (bractea) at the 

 base. Seeds oval-oblong, angular, obvolute in a thick hard coriaceous testa ; 

 taste acrid, and odour very resinous : wing slender, membranaceous, broad, 

 quite entire, obovate-axe-shaped. {Lamb.) It is a native of the alps of 

 Gossainthan in Nepal, and of the Himalayas, where it was discovered by 

 Captain W. S. Webb, " a distinguished traveller, and a zealous investigator 

 of natural history, deservedly known for his admirable survey of the Himalayan 

 alps." Captain Webb gave the following account of the tree to Dr. Wallich : 

 — " This purple-coned pine attains a height of 80 ft. or 90ft., with a diameter 

 of the stem near the ground of from 3 ft. to 4 ft. The cone is produced on the 

 extremity of the shoots. The leaves are about 1 in. long, of a beautiful light 

 green, having a white stripe in the centre. The wood even equals, in the 

 texture of its grain and in odour, the Bermudas cedar. The fruit is said 

 to yield, at full growth, a purple pigment by expression. The silvery hue 

 of the bark, the beautiful contrast of the leaves with the rich purple of 

 the cone, glittering with globules of transparent resin, produce in combina- 

 tion one of the most striking objects which can well be imagined, and 

 entitle the tree to precedence for ornamental purposes." Seeds were repeatedly 

 sent to England, by Dr. Wallich, to Mr. Lambert and others ; but none appear 

 to have vegetated till about 1822; when some plants were raised in the 

 Fulham Nursery. The largest of these, which is now at Drop- 

 more, and of which our^g.2253. is a portrait, to scale of 1 in. to 

 8 ft., was, in 1837, after being 10 years planted, 8 ft. high ; and had 

 a cone which on the 14th of July was 3-| in. long, and on the 

 1st of October, was about 5 in. long. As the tree has produced 

 no male catkins, no perfect seeds can be expected from this 

 cone ; but its intensely dark, and yet brilliant purple hue, amply 

 justifies the description of Captain Webb. The plant, in the 

 climate of England, appears rather more tender than the silver 

 fir ; being liable, from its vegetating very early in spring, to have 

 its leading shoots pinched by the frost. After a series of years, however, and 

 propagation from seeds ripened in this country, it will, in all probability, 

 accommodate itself in a considerable degree to the peculiarities of our 

 climate. When once the tree begins to.bear cones, they may be fecundated 

 with the male blossoms of the common silver fir, and thus a hybrid pro- 

 duced somewhat hardier than the female parent. As a timber tree, it is never 

 likely to be of much value in this country ; though, in India, its wood is 

 said to equal in the texture of its grain, and in its odour, the Bermudas cedar ; 



2253 



