PIXETUM DAXICUM. 



415 



from the pores of the wood, and which renders the roof impenetrable 

 to rain. The tree is sufficiently frequent in that country to render 

 the covering a cheap one. 



It is from Larix europxa that the true Venetian turpentine is 

 extracted. This substance has been procured in the greatest abun- 

 dance near Lyons, in France, and in the Valley of St. Martin, near 

 Lucerne, in Switzerland. But what is very remarkable, the inner 

 part of the wood of this tree yields a pure gum, scarcely inferior in its 

 qualities to the Arabian gum. In the Russian empire this has been 

 received into the shops, and sold under the name of Orenburg gum, 

 an appellation extremely improper, as Pallas justly observes, Oren- 

 burg being very distant from the Uralensian forests, where the gum 

 is collected from Larix sibirica. Possibly this product is obtained 

 from Larix europxa as well. 



Larix europxa is to be found in Danish plantations at an age of 

 more than a hundred years, and with a height exceeding 100 feet. 



A tree of this species planted on the Danish island of Moen a 

 hundred years ago now measures over 100 feet in height, with a girth 

 of more than 8 feet ; while another planted in 1882 has already 

 attained a height of 33 feet and a girth of 1 foot 8 inches. 



In Sweden the Larch grows well in Aangermanland and the 

 southern parts of Norbotten. 



In Finland it has been planted at Uleaborg (65°). At Svartpe (60"^ 8') 

 a Larch fourteen years old was measured, and found to be 16 feet 

 in height. At the Forest Academy at Evois (61° 15') a tree eleven 

 years old measured 15 feet in height and 6 inches in diameter 

 ("Catalogue Special d'Objets envoyes a I'Exposition de Moscou en 

 1882," Helsingfors, 1882, p. 14). 



Larix europsea does not belong to the Scandinavian flora, as 

 stated in some works on Conifers. A wrong translation of "in 

 montibus Sudetris" may have caused this error. 



In Norway it was first planted at the close of the eighteenth and 

 the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Prof. Schlibeler, in his 

 " Viridarium," says that the most northern point where he has seen 

 the Larch planted is at Tramso (69° 40'), but there it was only a shrub, 

 as it is rather windy at that place, and the ground sandy and stony. 

 At Poeros (Roros), near the Swedish frontier, where sometimes there 

 is even more than 50° C. of frost registered, Larch trees are to be 

 found as high as 30 feet. 



It is strange that the name Larix leads to so many mistakes ; 

 for instance, in a German botanical and physiological work recently 

 published it is said that Finns Laricio is the common Larch ! 



L. e. pendula, Laws, Man. 386. Finns laricina, Du Roi, Obs. Bot. 

 49. F. Larix nigra, Marsh. Arbr. 103. P. Larix repens, Endl. Conif. 

 134. P. pendula, Sol. in Ait. Hort.Kew.ed. 1, iii, s. 369. Larix pendula, 

 Salisb. in Linn. Trans, viii. 313. L. intermedia, Lodd. Cat. 1836, 60. 



