pinetu:m danicum. 



479 



on the extremity of the shoots. The leaves are about an inch long, 

 of a beautiful light green, having a white stripe in the centre. The 

 •wood, is used for planes, and even equals, in the texture of its grain 

 and odour, the Bermuda Cedar. The fruit is said to yield, at full 

 growth, an indigo or purple pigment, by expression. The silvery hue 

 of its bark, the beautiful contrast of the leaves with globules of 

 transparent resin, produce in combination one of the most striking 

 objects that can be imagined, and entitle the tree to precedence for 

 ornamental purposes." 



Dr. Hooker found it in Sikkim measuring 30 feet in girth. It also 

 forms most dense and extensive forests on the north side of the 

 Shatool Pass, but on the south face it does not flourish. It is called 

 " Chilrow" in the Northern Himalayas ; " Oonum," or Purple-coned 

 Fir, and the " Raisalla," or King Pine, in Upper Kamaon andlSTepaul. 



This is the Black Fir, found so abundantly by Dr. Griffith on the 

 Bhotan Mountains, at an elevation of from 11,000 to 12,500 feet, 

 where it forms a lofty tabular or flat-headed tree, with the foliage of 

 the deepest green on the upper surface, but quite silvery beneath. It 

 is called " Pai-Sulla " (Fragrant Fir) and " Gobrea-SuUa " (Fragrant or 

 Indigo Fir) by the Gorkhalese, on account of an indigo or purple 

 pigment being extracted from the young cones. On the Khoor 

 Mountains the inhabitants call it " Kilounta," which is a Sanscrit 

 compound for " end of the Pine-tree," and denotes the fir-cone, so con- 

 spicuous in this species, on account of its beautiful purple or violet 

 colour. In Kooloo, and on the Chumbra range, it is styled "Toss," 

 and forms extensive forests, where, notwithstanding the whiteness of 

 the under surface of its leaves, the general effect of the Himalayan 

 Silver Fir is exceeding dark and gloomy — more even than the Indian 

 Cypress {Cupressus torulosa), which from a distance it a good deal 

 resembles ; but still the thoroughgoing black Pindrow Fir, with its tall 

 columnar outline and boughs, much less bushy and pendulous, and its 

 longer leaves, must be pronounced the handsomer tree of the two. 



Timber white, very soft, and coarse-grained, but full of clear white 

 resin, and a beautiful dye of a lovely violet colour is extracted from 

 the young cones (G. Gordon, ^' The Pinetum," 1875). 



Introduced into Europe in 1822. Seeds had repeatedly been 

 sent by Dr. Wallich to Mr. Lambert and others, but none appear to 

 have vegetated till the date above given, when some i)lants Avere 

 raised in the Fulham nursery. 



A. Wehhiana, I have been told, has developed into a fine tree of 

 about 30 feet in height in a garden in West Zealand. 



A. Veitcliii, Carr. Conif. ed. 2, 309. Picea Veitchii, Lindl. in 

 Gard. Chron. 1861, 23. Plnus selenolepis, Pari, in DC. Prodr. xvi. 2, 

 427. P. Veitchii, MacNab, Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. 686. Abies 

 EicMeri, Lauche, Berl. Gartenzeit. 1882, s. 63 {cum ic). 



Habitat. — Japan, on Ishitzuchi-Yama, on Shikoku, on Mount Susi- 



