PINETUM DANICUM. 



263 



Dissolved in spirit of wine, it produces a clear delicate varnish, easily 

 scratched ; reduced to a fine powder, it forms a very superior kind of 

 pounce, and is applied to paper and parchment to make them bear 

 ink. It was for a long time thought that gum sandarach was obtained 

 from some species of Juniper. Captain S. E. Cook, in his " Sketches 

 in Spain," vol. ii. , has brought to light the interesting fact that the 

 wood-work of the roof of the celebrated mosque, now the Cathedral of 

 Cordova, which was built in the ninth century, is made of the wood of 

 this tree. It had been previously thought to be that of the larch, from 

 the resemblance of the Spanish word alerce — which is applied to the 

 wood of Callitris quadrivalvis in Spain and Earbary — to the Latin 

 word larix, whence the English word larch. The larch, however, is 

 not found in any part of Spain. After carefully examining the wood in 

 question, and comparing it with the timber of the roofs of the Alhambra 

 and the Alcazar, the roofs of which are of Finns Pinea, or Stone 

 Pine, once extensively grown in Andalusia, Captain Cook came to the 

 conclusion that the origin of the timber of the mosque must be sought 

 elsewhere, and that it was not of any Spanish, or even European, tree. 

 By a singular coincidence, the subject had been undergoing investiga- 

 tion about the same time in Africa. Mr. Druiiimond Hay, the 

 British consul at Tangier, had, by tracing the Arabic etymology of the 

 word alerce, by availing himself of the extensive botanical researches of 

 the late Mr. Schousboe, the Danish consul in Morocco, and by colla- 

 ting the accounts of the resident Moors, made out that the alerce was 

 the Tliuya articulata, Desf. {Callitris quadrivalvis, Yent.), which grow s 

 on Mount Atlas, in the vicinity of Tangier. 



(a) FEENELA, Mirb. Mem. Mus. xiii. 30 (except sp. atlant.) ; 

 Spach, Hist, des Veg. Phane'r. xi. 345 ; Endl. Conif. p. 35 ; Carr. 

 Conif. p. 68; Hook, fil. Flor. of Tasmania, p. 351; Gord. Pin. 

 p. 82. Callitris, Vent. Nov. Gen., Dec. 1808 ; Rich. Conif. pp. 47-49, 

 tab. 18, n. 1 and 2 (except sp. atlant.). Leichhardtia, Shepherd, 

 Catal. of Plants cultivated at Sydney, p. 15 (not R. Brown). Octo- 

 clinis, Ferd. Muell. in Trans, of the Philosoph. Inst, of Victoria, ii. 

 20, m. Apl. ; Pari, in D. C. Prodr. xvi., ii. 445 ; Henk. and 

 Hochst. Syn. der Nadelh. 298 ; Carr. Tr. Gen. Conif. ed. 2, 1867, 

 p. 63. ; Beissner, Nadelholzk. 7. 



Mowers monoecious. 



Cones nearly globular or conical, and consisting of six or rarely 

 eight valved scales, the alternate ones being much the smaller and 

 shorter. 



Seeds numerous, more or less angular, and laterally winged on both 

 sides. 



Leaves mostly ternate, scale-formed, and decurrent. 

 Cotyledons three. 



All trees or shrubs, natives of New Holland, and not hardy. 

 Named after M, Frenel by Professor Mirbel of Paris, 



