PINETUM DANICUM. 



419 



34. PICEA, Link. — Endl. Conif. 112. Picea, sec. 1a, genuinse^ 

 Link in Linnsea, xv. 516. Picea, Carr. Conif. 236, 317. Abies, 

 Don in Loud. Arbor. Brit. iv. 2293 ; Pari, in DC. Prodr. xvi. 2, 

 413 (Pini sec.) ; Engelm. Bot. Calif, ii. 121 ; Nees. Gen. Fl. Germ. 

 Monoch. n. 7 ; Reichb. Ic. FL Germ. t. 532 ; L. C. Rich. Conif. 

 t. 15 ; Lamb. Pin. t. 25-29, and min. ed. t. 35-39 ; Forb. Pin. Wob. 

 t. 32-36 ; Zaub. and Spach, PI. Or. iii. t. 14 ; Ledeb. Ic. Fl. Ross, 

 t. 499 ; Wall. PI. As. Rar. t. 246 ; Sieb. and Zucc. Fl. Jap. t. 3 ; 

 Nutt. N. Am. Sylv. t. 146-148 ; Newberry, Bot. Williams Exped. t. 9 ; 

 C. Koch, Dendr. ii. 232 (Abies, Don) ; Pancic, Eine neue Conif. in d. 

 Ostl. Alpen, Belgrad, 1876 ; Eichler in Engl, and Prantl, Natiirl. 

 Pflf. ii. s. 77 ; Willk. Forstl. Flor. s. 65 ; Beissn. Nadelh. 331 ; 

 H. Mayr, Monogr. der Abiet. des Jap. Reich. 1890, 43. 



Flowers monoecious ; the male catkins axillary or terminal, the 

 female ones terminal and solitary. 



Cones pendent, solitary, terminal, and remaining on for a long 

 time. 



Bcales persistent, leathery, thin, broadly rounded, and sometimes 

 undulated on the edges. 



Seeds oblong, pointed with a short, stiff, deciduous wing, and bony 

 shell. 



Bracts small and hidden by the scales. 

 Cotyledons from seven to nine in number. 



Leaves solitary, four-sided, acute-pointed, and scattered all round 

 the shoots. 



All evergreen trees, found in the colder parts of Europe, Asia, and 

 America. The ancients called the Spruce Fir "Picea," and the Silver 

 Fir "Abies," but by some inadvertence Linnseus reversed the names, 

 and thus created great confusion in their nomenclature. The English 

 and some of the American writers still follow Linnajus, and apply the 

 name Abies to the Spruces, and Picea to the Silver Firs (so also 

 have Don, Loudon, Gordon, Emerson, &c.), while nearly all the 

 French, German, and other Continental authors follow Bauhin and 

 Du Roi, and reverse the terms, applying Picea to the Spruces, and 

 Abies to the Silver Firs. Pliny called Picea excelsa "Picea," and 

 distinguished it from the Silver Fir, as the " tonsili facilitate," on 

 account of its fitness to be shorn, or clipped into hedges ; and Professor 

 Link observes that the true Spruces approach nearest to that of Pinus, 

 and that upon close inspection still more so than at a first glance. He 

 says: " For instance, if the leaves that stand singly are examined 

 minutely, it will be seen that several of them have their surface grown 

 together, and consequently they are in tufts, like the leaves of the true 

 Pines ; and as a proof that this is the case, it will be found that there is 

 no upper surface on the leaves of the Spruces, but that the leaves pre- 

 sent only the under surface on both sides, as will be seen on comparing 

 them with the leaves of the true Pines. The seam where the leaves 



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