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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



branches are contracted into stalks, at the end of which the female 

 flowers are clustered, each consisting of an erect ovule surrounded at 

 the base by an aril. The adjacent bract and the top of the stalk also 

 become fleshy. The male spikes are in clusters at the ends of the 

 branches, anthers 2-celled, with a pointed crest. Cotyledons 2, leafy, 

 primary leaves linear. 



One or two species are grown in conservatories, such as P. tricho- 

 MANOiDES, Don, and its variety glauca from New Zealand, and P. 

 RHOMBOiDALis from Tasmania; P. alpinus of Hook, fil., Gordon, and 

 others, is an alpine form of TmcHOMANOiDES. 



PICEA, Link (1827) ; Bentham et Hooker, Genera Plantarum, iii. 

 439 ; Eichler, Pflanzenfamil. ii. 70. The Spruce Firs. (Tribe Abie- 

 tine^.) 



According to modern and now almost universally followed usage, 

 the Spruce Firs are included under Pieea, whilst the Silver Firs 

 are placed under Abies. The reader should therefore, in case of 

 need, search under Abies, or even under Pinus, for names not found 

 under the present heading. 



The leading characteristics of the Spruce Firs are : the projecting 

 cushions at the base of the leaves, which give a rough, pegged ap- 

 pearance to the shoots ; the four-sided leaves (flat in the section 

 Omorica), uniform in structure ; the usually pendulous woody 

 cones, ripening in the first year, and the scales of which do not fall 

 away one from the other as in the Silver Firs. Bracts concealed, 

 not projecting, free from the scales except at the base. Stamens in 

 spike-like masses. Anthers 2-lobed, apiculate. Pollen-cells winged. 

 Seeds small. Seed-wings obovate, separable, covering the upper side 

 of the seed. Cotyledons 8-10, 3-sided, toothed, primary leaves flat, 

 denticulate. Willkomm makes two sections — § Eupicea with four-sided 

 leaves ; and § Omorica with flattish leaves with stomata and white bands 

 on the upper surface. 



P. adcularis^ Maximowicz ; Beissner, 380 (not of gardens), is cited 

 as the Picea japonica of gardens. See Picea Alcockiana. 



1. P. ajanensis, Fischer ; Masters in Gard. CJiron. 1880, Jan. 24, 

 p. 115, 213 ; October 2, 1880, p. 428, fig. ; Jan. 14, 1888, p. 53, cone ; 

 1882, August 5, p. 183 ; and in Journ. Linn. Soc. xviii. 508; Beissner, 

 385, fig.; Mayr, Man. Abiet. Japan, 53, t. 4. (§ Omorica.) 



Synonym: — Ahies ajanensis, Yeitch, 63. 



Variety : — microsperma = V . ajanensis japonica, Maximowicz. 

 Amoor-land, Mountains of Japan. 



2. P. alba, Link ; Engelmann in Gard. Chron. 1879, 334 ; Beissner, 

 340, fig. ; Macoun, 469. 



Synonyms : — Ahies alba, Michaux ; Loudon, Arbor. 2224 ; Encycl. 

 Trees, 1030, f. 1928 ; Pinet. Woburn. t. 33 j Yeitch, 63, A, canadensis y 



