438 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of Jap. 506. (?) p. thianschanica, Rupr. Sertum Thianschanicum, 72. 

 Finns orientalis /3 longifolia, Ledeb. Fl. Ross. iii. 671. 



Habitat. — Ficea Bclirenhiana is a native of the Altai Mountains 

 and South-west Siberia. 



A tall tree, resembling Ahies Menziesii, and in favourable situations 

 growing 80 feet high, but diminishing in stature according to situation, 

 soil, and elevation. 



Hardy. 



P. sitcliensis, Traut. and Mey. Forul. Ochatensis, 1856 ; Carr. 

 Conif. ed. 1, 260. Finns Mendesii, Dougl. Msc. Lamb. Pinet. iii. 

 t. 89. Abies Menziesii, Loud. Arbor, iv. 2321, A. sitchensis, Lindl. 

 and Gord. Journ. Hort. Soc. v. 212. Finns sitcliensis^ Bong, in Mem. 

 Acad. St. Petersb. vi. ser. 2, 104. Ficea Menziesii., Carr. Conif. ed. 2, 

 318. F. sitkaensis, Mayr in Wald. N. Am. 338. 



Habitat. — Alaska, south to Mendocino County, California, not 

 extending more than fifty miles inland from the coast. 



A large tree, of great economic value, 155-200 feet in height, 

 with a trunk 10-15 feet in diameter ; gravelly ridges and swamps, 

 reaching its greatest development in Washington Territory and Oregon, 

 near the mouth of the Columbia River ; here forming a belt of nearly 

 continuous forest growth of fifty, or farther north and south rarely 

 more than ten or fifteen, miles in width. 



Wood light, soft, not strong, close, straight-grained, compact, 

 satiny ; bands of small summer cells narrow, not conspicuous ; resin 

 passages few, obscure ; medullary rays numerous, rather prominent ; 

 colour light brown tinged with red, the sapwood nearly white ; 

 specific gravity, 0-4287 ; ash, 0*17 ; largely manufactured into lumber, 

 and used for construction, interior finish, fencing, boat-building, the 

 dunnage of vessels, cooperage, wooden w^are, &c. (C. S. Sargent). 



Introduced in 1831 by the Royal Horticultural Society through 

 their collector, David Douglas. 



In Oregon and Washington Territory P. sitcliensis, in company 

 with the Douglas Fir and Thuya, gigantea, is one of the princiiDal trees 

 that form the dense coating of vegetation that covers the coast range 

 of mountains ; but it never attains dimensions so gigantic as those of 

 the Douglas Fir. Its timber is of excellent quality, and is used by 

 the settlers for various kinds of carpentry. 



The Tide-land Spruce, being so accessible to early voyagers, was 

 collected by the first visitors to the north-west coast, and it has 

 received half-a-dozen scientific names, as it was classed in diflerent 

 ways. At last separated from the other Spruces by the French 

 botanist Carriere, and named from one of the localities of its first 

 discovery, on the island of Sitka (J. G. Lemmon, "California State 

 Board of Forestry," 1889-90). 



It does not attain to the size of the Douglas Fir in its native 

 country, but its timber is of excellent quality, and is used for a great 



