SYNOPSIS OF PINES. 



367 



they are occasionaUy injured by spring frosts : in shaded and northern 

 exposures they appear quite hardy. P. nigr.a, Picea, and Menziesii afford 

 the best timber : P. nigra and Picea, with some others, form ornamental 

 hedges, and when planted thickly, and topped down to four or five feet 

 from the ground, afford excellent cover for game. 



PiNFS. — Grroup 4. Larix, Larches. 

 (Cones small and erect. Leaves in bimdles, annual.) 

 61. P. Dahurica, low tree. 68. P. Larix flore rubro. 

 *62. P. leptolepis, tree. 69. P. pendula. 



63. P. Ledebourii, tree. 70. P. Eussica. 



64. P. pendula, 60-100 ft. 71. P. repens. 



65. P. microcarpa, 100 ft. 72. P. Sibirica. 



66. P. Larix, 100 ft. 73. P. ariffithiana, 40-60 ft. 



67. P. flore albo. 



The Larches are all deciduous trees. They are not liighly ornamental 

 m themselves; yet they impart considerable variety to scenery. P. 

 LoA-ix pendula is a gracefal tree ; and P. pendula, with its few stragghng 

 droopmg branches, has a somewhat curious aspect. The foKage is 

 mostly of a Hght green ; m 65 it is more vivid than m the others. The 

 Larches succeed best in an open porous soil where there is a good natural 

 drainage ; in such situations, and with a moist atmosphere, they are often 

 extremely luxmiant. On close retentive subsoHs they do not thrive. 

 P. microcarpa wffl grow vigorously m more swampy soils than any of 

 the others. The common Larch is the most valuable exotic tunber-tree 

 which we have ; and m favom-able circumstances wlU attam to perfec- 

 tion at even higher altitudes than the Scotch Pu- does. 



PlNtrs.—Group 5. Cedrus. 

 (Cones large, erect. Leaves ua bundles, perennial.) 



74. P. Deodara, 100-150 ft. 77. p. Atlantica, 80-100 ft. 



75. P. robusta. 78. P. Cedrus, 60-80 ft. 



76. P. widis. 79. p. argentea. 



The whole of this group have a pyramidal form when young, but ac- 

 quire a broad head m matui-e age. The Deodar, when fiill gTowii, is 

 said to have a wide roof-hke head with spreading branches and weeping 

 branchlets. The Cedars of Atlas and Lebanon have both a strongly 

 marked and characteristic form, m which the primary branches assume 

 an ascendiiig position, and the secondary branches a horizontal and 

 tabulated an-angement. Occasionally the old trees retam their early 

 pyramidal habit, the lesser branches stiU becoming horizontal. The 



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