84 



PINACE^. 



nohilissiinas, as we already have an argentea, an aurea, a compactaj 

 and a viridis of Wellington's Giant Fir. 



S.D. Y. LariX : The Larcli Fir. 



'^o certain origin nor sure derivation do I offer for this name ; and 

 after much, careful research, I venture no further hack than the Latin 

 Larix, the which, however, I consider an appropriate, correct, and 

 tenable term for this S.D. 



Flowers, male and female, on the same plant, but separate : the 

 male catkins small and numerous, egg-shaped, minus footstalks ; the 

 females larger, ovate, solitary, and generally erect ; the female catkins 

 are generally red in colour, but there is a white-flowered variety of the 

 prototype ; and at the present time there are to be found plants having 

 white, yellow, straw, orange, and yellowish or whitish-green blooms ; 

 and red, purple, brown, and reddish or brownish-green shades. 



Leaves, deciduous, soft, linear, flat, obtuse ; produced singly on 

 the young shoots of young plants, and in bundles or clusters upon 

 adult branches and old trees; being disposed in gregarious groups 

 round a central bud, ranging from a quarter to fhree inches long ; at 

 first bright grassy-green, more or less glaucous, and in the autumn, 

 before they fall off, they aliernate through many shades of golden, 

 yellow, red, and bro^TO colours. 



Cones, these are of various sizes, ranging in some species from a 

 quarter to one inch long, in others from one-and-a-half to three inches ; 

 in form oblong, oval-obtuse, cylindrical, or roundish; at first red, 

 purple, yellow, or brownish-green, changing to yellowish-green; and, 

 when they arrive at maturity, all of them become of a brownish colour : 

 the scales of most of them are persistent, while in a few they are 

 deciduous ; the seeds of some have a soft skin-like covering, while they 

 most of them have a leathery or ligneous covering : and all of them 

 are furnished with a winged appendage though comparatively small. 



Larix AlTAICA : The Mountain or Siberian Larch. 



This is merely an altered form of the common Larch Fir ; sometimes 

 found much diminished in its stature, and in the size of its leaves and 

 cones, often reduced to a scrubby bush; while it is, in some more 

 favoured habitat, a very handsome stately tree, closely resembling the 

 prototype ; all of which forms or variations are produced by the soil, 

 altitude, and climate in which it is grown. 



Larix Amabilis : The Lovely Larch Fir. 



This is a Fir, luia e mitltis, which has caused no little consternation. 



