CONIFERS. THE PICEA, OR SILVER FIR. 
CONIFERS 
Picea, D. Don (the Silver Fir). — Derived 
from pix, in allusion to the pitch which the 
trees produce. Evergreen trees. 
Picea pectinata, Don (comb-leaved Silver 
Fir). — Leaves nearly flat, disposed in rows 
like the teeth of a comb, solitary, turned up 
at the points, on the upper side dark green, 
with two silvery lines underneath, whence the 
name of Silver fir. Cones large, cylindrical, 
erect, six to eight inches long, with blunt 
clo>ely-pressed scales of a brown colour when 
ripe. 
An erect growing noble tree, scattered over 
a great many countries, and long since praised 
by the prince of Latin poets for its unequalled 
beauty. It fills some of the forests of the 
Alps, the Carpathian mountains, the South of j country. 
Germany, the Uralian, Altaic, and Baikal 
mountains, and may be considered to be 
indigenous to the mountains of Central 
Europe, and those of the west and north of 
Asia. It assumes its most majestic appear- 
ance in Italy, in Germany, and especially in 
the neighbourhood of Strasburg, on low, deep, 
loamy lands, near to the Rhine. It is not to 
be found naturally in Scotland, and there is 
very little ground for supposing that it is a 
native plant in England. Its most celebrated 
locality is that of Olympus, the trees of this 
species contributing to form the noble woods 
Picea Pectinata. 
-The Picea, or Silver Fir. 
by which that famous seat of the gods is 
surrounded. 
The silver fir has been planted in consider- 
able numbers around gentlemen's seats, and it 
will be generally observed in such situations 
towering above all Other trees. When young, 
the tree is an exceedingly slow grower, often 
losing its leading bud from the effects of spring 
frost. In their young state the plants grow 
much better in Scotland than in England, and 
perhaps this is to be accounted for by the 
fact that there, when the tree is excited by 
fine weather to put forth its tender shoots, 
nipping frosts are by no means so common as 
in England, or, in other words, the climate 
is not so uncertain as it is in the latter 
Its love for deep loamy soil has very much 
operated against its being planted in this 
country in greater numbers ; for the land 
which suits it best is more profitably employed 
in growing corn crops, &c. Nevertheless, in 
all places where ornament is required it will 
continue to offer many attractions over some 
other evergreens. After it has attained to the 
age of ten or twelve years, it commences to 
grow rapidly, making annual shoots of from 
two feet to three feet in one season. 
Virgil was right in ascribing to it the attri- 
bute of beauty. It has nothing of the tortuous 
