ABIES MEDIOXIMA. 
3 
“ Synopsis of the Vegetable Produces of Norway,” by Dr Schubeler, which was made use of in con¬ 
nexion with the Norwegian colledfion in the Great Exhibition of 1862. In it Dr Schubeler says, “A group 
of the Pinus orientalis of Linnaeus is said to have been found in East F inmark, in north lat. 69° 30", 
near the Russian frontier.” 
In the summer of 1863, Mr Fellman, accompanied by two young students of the University of 
Helsingfors, made a botanic tour through Russian Lapland, in which they found this to be the universal 
form of Spruce everywhere to the north of the Gulf of Kandalak. The narrative of the tour consists of a 
letter from Mr Fellman to Professor Nylander, communicated to the Botanical Society of France on 
27th November 1863; and in one of the notes to it he says: “ This variety of Pinus Abies , L. ( Abies 
excelsa, De Cand.) is distinguished by the scales of the cones, which are obtuse and entire; it is very 
widely spread in Finland. Some botanists have mistaken it for the P. orientalis , L. The form in 
Eastern Lapland scarcely differs from P. obovata, Rupr., which has the scales of the cones still more 
obtuse than the Finnish form [A. medioxima , W. Nyl.). Frequent passages unite these forms, often 
in appearance very distinct, with the type of the Pinus Abies, L.” On this we have only to repeat what 
we have already said, that we believe that these passages relate to individual specimens, and not to the 
prevailing type over broad tradts of country. That that is so here is apparent from Mr Fellman’s text. 
He says, “With regard to Alder trees, I only met with the Aimes pubescens, Tausch., in Eastern 
Lapland; it disappears to the north of Ponoi (on the Gulf of Kandalak on the south coast of Russian 
Lapland), where some small bushes are still to be met with, and it does not appear again until near the 
fjord of Kola (on the north coast of Russian Lapland on the shores of the Arctic Ocean). The same 
thing takes place with the Spruce, which everywhere appears to be the Pinus Abies, var. medioxima, 
W. Nyl., or the obovata , Rupr. No Abies of a tolerably typical form grows except between 
Kandalak and Kunsamo.” This, we think, bears us out in regarding the form as regional; and if 
regional, then specific, notwithstanding occasional transitional individuals being found here and there. 
In relation to the distribution of this species in the south of the peninsula of Russian Lapland, he tells 
us that the southern coast of the Lapland peninsula offers little interest, for it is low, sandy, and 
consequently very sterile, reckoning from Umba, or, to speak more exactly, Tursi, a small peninsula 
about six leagues west of Umba. At certain places, as for example at Kusomen, a village situated 
at the mouth of the river Warsuga, he met with true deserts of sand. To the west of Tursi the coast 
is granitic, and surrounded with numerous rocky islets; to the east, on the contrary, it is flat and sandy 
as far as Pialitsa (66° io'), where it begins to rise. The water near the coast is low; islets and bays 
are awanting. At Pialitsa clay is met with, but sand predominates, although rocks are to be met 
with here and there. He tells us that “the forests of the south coast are formed of Birches and Firs. 
The Pine ( Pinus sylvestris, L.) appears less able to support the maritime climate, and withdraws more 
and more into the interior in proportion as we advance towards the east: the same may be said of the 
wood generally, although the observation is more especially true of the Pine. Already near Pialitsa the 
coast is naked, and it is not until half a league from the sea that a forest of a few rare and gnarled 
Birches occurs. The first Spruces did not shew themselves until the distance of about a league, and a 
little further off they formed a continuous forest.” The Spruce here spoken of is the A. medioxima. 
“This tree attains there a height of 25 feet and a circumference of 2 feet. The Pine, on the contrary, 
was awanting in the coast region so far as we were able to explore it. The peasants said that it was 
met with at the distance of two leagues from the sea. Schrenck indeed says that the Pine reaches to 
Sosnovets, but it appears to have disappeared there, for a Lap who inhabited that district affirmed that 
there was not a single tree to be met with there. In the bay called Kislaia-guba (between Pialitsa and 
Ponoi) I ascended a tolerably high point, from thence to discover the forest; but as far as the view could 
reach all was desert and naked. The vegetation of this desert is composed chiefly of Cladonia, of 
Stereocaulon, of Platysma nivale , and Empetrum nigrum'.' These treeless deserts are called tundras. 
The severity of the climate in the above district where this form of the Spruce grows may be 
[ 25 ] b gathered 
