CONIFERS. THE LARIX, OR LARCH TREE. 
343 
leaved Silver Fir.) — Leaves in two rows, or 
nearly so, flat, and nearly of the same colour 
on both sides, bidentate at the apex, from 2 
to 3 inches long, having an elevated midrib. 
Cones erect, solitary, 5 inches long, of an oval 
obtuse form, and a greyish brown colour. 
A tree, growing to the height of 90 and 
100 feet, a native of the Himalayas, where 
it assumes the character, in some measure, 
of the Cedar of Lebanon, having stouter and 
more roaming branches than any other indi- 
vidual of the genus. In this respect it will 
find favour in the eyes of those who prefer 
picturesque growing trees, to those which are 
regular and pyramidal in their outline. The 
tree is not unfrequently confounded with 
P. Webbiana, but it may be easily distin- 
guished from the latter by its longer leaves, 
and by its cones, which are shorter and thicker. 
There is a good specimen in the arboretum 
of the Horticultural Society. One year seed- 
ling plants are 15s. per dozen; and those 
which are 15 inches high, are 21s. each 
(1846). 
Pieea bracteata, Loudon (leafy-bracted 
Silver Fir.) — Leaves linear, two -rowed, flat, 
silvery beneath, two inches long, light green, 
and shining on the upper surface. Cones 
ovate, four inches long, solitary, almost ses- 
sile, erect. 
A high slender tree, discovered by Douglas, 
on the high mountains of Colombia, and not 
growing at a lower elevation than 6,000 feet 
above the sea. It is a remarkable feature, 
that a tree affecting such an altitude should 
be so entirely devoid of that sturdiness pecu- 
liar to almost all other mountain trees ; its 
height being 120 feet, and the diameter of 
the stem at bottom only 15 inches. This 
fir will, no doubt, prove hardy in Britain, and 
produce valuable timber for some purposes. 
It is not yet, as far as we are aware, to be had 
in the nursei'ies of this country. 
Picea Pinsapo, Loudon (Mount Atlas 
Cedar, or Pinsapo Silver Fir.) — Leaves scat- 
tered, thick and fleshy at base, and tapering 
to a sharp point, dagger-shaped. Cones ovate, 
with bracts much shorter than the scales. 
A small tree very much resembling, in 
general appearance, P. balsamea, but by some 
regarded as a variety of P. pectinala. A 
remarkably slow growing plant when young, 
and not likely to prove otherwise than orna- 
mental in this country. A specimen, 18 inches 
high, stands in the arboretum of Mr. Mackie, 
Norwich. Plants, one foot high, are 12s. per 
dozen (1846). 
There are small plants of the following 
kinds in cultivation, but they are yet hardly 
enough advanced either to test if they are 
identical with other kinds already in culti- 
vation, or possessed of any peculiar charac- 
teristics: — P. Hudsonii, a very dwarf growing 
and small-leaved Silver Fir, the origin of which 
is unknown, price 15s. to 21s. each (1846). 
P. hybrida, a variety obtained in this country 
from Germany, slightly resembling P. Pichta 
in the colour of its foliage. Probably, these 
will prove to be merely varieties of the com- 
mon kind : both are in the collection of Messrs. 
Knight and Perry, of Chelsea. P. dianosa, 
represented to be hardy, cultivated by Messrs. 
Lawson and Son, and offered at 15s. each 
(1846). P. moustrosa, grown in the Exotic 
Nursery, King's Road : but Mr. Knight ex- 
presses considerable doubt concerning it. 
CONIFER^.— The Larix, or Larch Tree. 
Larix, Tournefort (the Larch), derived 
from the Celtic lav, fat, in allusion to its 
resinous exudation ; or, as others suppose, 
from the word Z/aris, the Berber name of a 
coniferous tree, found in Rif, and throughout 
the higher Sierras of Marocco. Deciduous 
trees. 
Larix europcea, Decandolle (European or 
common Larch.) -Leaves clustered, very soft, 
deciduous, rounded at the points, light green. 
Cones ovate-oblong, erect, one inch in length, 
of a dark brown colour when ripe, 
found in greatest perfection gi'owing in the 
neighhourhood of cataracts, avalanches, and 
ravines. Even, beside the icy glaciers of Savoy, 
where general vegetation never assumes its 
sway, some scattered specimens of it maybe seen 
skirting the outlines of that wondrous and 
appalling picture. On the Alps and Appe- 
nines, and generally over those countries 
where it is indigenous, it is found at a great 
height. The traveller, whilst journeying over 
the western and northern districts of Scot- 
land, may observe it, though not growing 
A well-known deciduous tree, with graceful J spontaneously, in similar situations, filling the 
pendent branches, naturally affecting cold and j straths with heavy timber, and ascending the 
elevated tracts of country, and when clad in its j mountains until it has attained an altitude too 
summer dress, considered to be an elegant I cold for it to live in. Those heights, it is true, 
object. In Alpine scenery, it is, perhaps, the \ are few in number ; for modern enterprise 
greatest of all trees. The most romantic and 
asonishing scenes in nature are clothed with it. 
In Italy, Switzerland, France, and Germany, it 
rises on mountains of uncommon height ; and is 
and ingenuity, by a simple process of inter- 
mixing the plants of the common pine with 
this tree, have succeeded in casting over the 
most sterile and exposed situations a lasting 
