PINETUM DANICUM. 



455 



Cotyledons in fives. 



Leaves solitary, flat, pectinated more or less in two rows, persistent, 

 and silvery below. 



All trees, found in Europe, Asia, North America, Mexico, and 

 Korthern Africa. 



The name " Abies " is said by some writers to be derived from 

 **Apios," a Pear-tree, the cones being like its fruit; while others 

 derive the name from " abeo," to rise or spring up, in allusion to its 

 aspiring habit of growth. 



Pliny and the ancient writers originally called the Silver Fir 

 *' Abies" (which name may have been a corruption of '^albus," the 

 leaves of the Silver Fir being white when seen from below), but 

 Linnseus afterwards changed the name to that of "Picea,"' on account 

 of the abundance of resinous matter produced by the tree. More 

 recently still, Professor Link proposed the restoration of its older 

 name, under that of Abies vera, a suggestion which has been followed 

 by nearly all the Continental writers, but rejected by some in 

 England and America ; hence the reverse of names applied .to the 

 Silver Fir and Spruces on the Continent to those used in England 

 and in America. 



Some pre-Linnsean botanists clearly distinguished the genera 

 Picea and Abies, placing the Spruce in the former and the Fir in the 

 latter genus. Linnaeus reversed the terms, and the confusion in 

 botanical nomenclature has continued to the j)resent time. 



Chief of those who apply the name "Abies" to the Fir family are 

 almost all the older botanists, including Pliny and Tournefort, with 

 the modern Link, Spach, Michaux, NuttaU, Carriere, &c. 



As late as 1847, Endlicher, in his " Synopsis," still classed both the 

 Spruces and the Firs with the Pines ; and as late as 1856 Asa Gray, in 

 his Flora of the Northern United States," arranged the Spruces as 

 a sub-genus of Abies, under the name of Picea. 



Dr. Engelmann says : "I follow Link in his definition and limita- 

 tion of the genus Abies, which seems to be a very natural one, com- 

 prising the Silver and Balsam Firs. The name "Picea" enjoys the 

 Linnaian prestige, but is contrary to Pliny's and to classical usage. 

 Picea is the Pitch- tree, and properly designates the Spruces. 

 Tournefort, the elder De Candolle, Gray, and others comprised under 

 the name ' ' Abies " both the Spruces and the Firs ; but the generic 

 distinctions between them are abundant, and based upon floral and 

 fruit characters, as well as upon leaf anatomy." 



A. amabilis, Forbes, Pinet. Wob. 125, t. 44 ; Engelm. in Gard. 

 Chron. 1880, 720, f. 136-41 ; Sargent, Pep. on the Forests of N. 

 Amer. 1884, 213. Finns amabilis^ Dougl. Comp. Bot. Mag. ii. 93 

 (1825). Picea amabilis, Loud. Arb. iv. 2342, f. 2247-48. Pimis 

 grandis, Lamb. Descrip. of the Gen. Pin. ed. 2, iii. t. 26 (not Pougl.). 

 Abies grandis var. densijiora, Engelm. in litt. 



