t 



HYBRID CONIFERS. 97 



HYBRID CONIFERS. 



Ax Address to the Scientific Committee at the Opening of 

 THE Session, February 12, 1901. 



By Maxwell T. Masters, M.D., F.R.S., Correspondent of the Institute 



of France. 



By the courtesy of M. Philippe de Yihnorin I am enabled to lay before 

 the Committee copies and foliage of a remarkable hybrid raised in 1867 

 by his father, the much lamented Henry de Vilmorin, between .l^ics Pinsapo 

 and .4. cephalonica. 



Before alluding to this tree in detail it may be convenient if a summary 

 of our existing knowledge of hybrid Conifers be given. 



Hybridisation between the species of Conifers is, in spite of the 

 profusion of pollen that is produced, not of common occurrence. This is 

 not to be wondered at, as in the Old World, at any rate, the species rarely 

 grow intermixed, and the great forests are composed of one species only. 

 Nevertheless, it is conceivable that in mixed plantations and Pineta cross 

 fertilisation and even hybridisation may occur. 



Focke, in his " Die Pflanzen-Mischlinge," Berlin (1881), page 419, cites 

 the following real or reputed hybrids : — 



Pinus inontana x P. silvcstris. — This grows in Southern Bohemia 

 and in the Grisons, in company with its assumed parents. This is the 

 P. rhcetica of Briigger, to which also P. uliginosa and P. obliqua may 

 probably be referred. 



Pinus Laricio subsp. nigricans x silvcstris, according to Klotzsch, 

 was raised artificially in 1845. 



Pinus Icucodcrmis, Antoine, is said by Purkyne to possess the cones of 

 P. silvcstris and the male flowers of P. Laricio, whilst P. Ncilrcichiana 

 has male flowers like those of P. silvcstris. 



Pinus Brutia of Tenore is, according to Purkyne, an intern:ediate 

 form between P. Laricio and P. halcpcnsis. 



The above-mentioned hybrid between Ahics Pinsapo and A. ccpha- 

 lonica, raised by M. Henry de Vilmorin, is also cited by Focke. To this 

 further reference will be made later on. 



Mr. Kent, in the latest edition of Yeitch's " Manual of the Conifers? " 

 (1900), page 45, mentions the following : — 



Ahics Pinsapo x A. Norchiuniniana, " Revue Horticole " (1890), page 

 231. 



Abies lasiocarpa x A. aniabilis, Sargent, " Silva of North America," 

 xii. 126. 



Pi)ius Thunbergi x P. densiflora, 'Mnyr, Abietineeu des japanischen 

 Reichs," 83. 



Pinus silvcstris x P. montana, " Flora helvetica," xlvii. 145. 

 Abictia (Pscudotsuga) Douglasii var. Standisliii x Abies pc:tinatOy 

 Gordon, " Pinetum," edition 2, page 26. 



Yew (Taxus) and Cephalotaxus. — A possicle hybrid between these 



H 



