26 
PINUS ABIES. 
whitish liquid resin ; it has a strong pungent taste and a fragrarie 
odour, very much resembling the bahn of Gilead,* with which it 
appears to agree in many of its qualities, and for which it is often 
substituted by dealers. As a medicine it has not beeii much used 
in England ; it is the opinion however of some practitioners who 
have tried it, that it possesses nearly all the virtues of the Bal- 
samum Copaibae, and might be substituted for it ; if this be true 
it would be an advantageous substitution, as the latter balsam is 
much more expensive. 

PINUS ABIES. 
Norway Spruce Fir.'^ 
For Class, Order, Gen. Char. &c. 
see PiNUS Sylvestris. 
Spec, Char. Leaves solitary, quadrangular. Cones cylin- 
drical ; their scales rhomboid, flattened, waved and notched. 
This beautiful and valuable species of pine is not only one of the 
loftiest of the genus, but one of the loftiest of European trees; 
frequently attaining the height of one hundred and fifty feet, growing 
in a pyramidal form, its lower branches widely extending; the 
trunk is straight, from three to tive feet in diameter, and covered 
with a reddish scaly bark ; the leaves, which are thickly placed upon 
the branches, are slightly imbricated, about an inch long, linear, 
blunfish, often curved, of a dusky green colour, and shining on the 
upper surface ; the male catkins are ovate, purplish, and placed in 
the axle of the leaves ; the female catkins are mostly terminal, of a 
rich crimson colour; are sessile, oblong, and stand erect; the 
strobiles or cones are terminal, and always pendent, nearly cylin- 
drical, of a greenish colour before they are ripe, but changing to 
purple as they ripen; the scales (which are placed in spinal rows) 
are rigid, rhomboid, waved at the edges, and terminate in a notched 
point. 
* Genuine balm of Gilead is produced by the Amyris Gileadensis. 
+ Fijf. a. represents Ihe anthers, b. Scale of a female catkin, c, A seed. 
