2 
PINETUM BRITANNICUM. 
The Spruce is a large and lofty tree, reaching the height of from ioo to 150 feet. Loudon says it 
even reaches as much as 180 feet; but we have not met with any record of such a height. It is closely 
feathered with thick foliage, and its outline is that of a spire, or, when older, of a cone. In 
full-grown trees, the branches at the top grow upwards at an acute angle ; the farther 
down the tree they are, the more the angle diminishes until they become horizontal, and 
towards the base they hang downwards in a sweep, curving upwards at the point. The bark 
is brown when old; on the younger branches bright brown, tending to orange on the current 
year’s twigs, except on the under side, where they are pale 
straw colour ; in the younger twigs it is corrugated by the 
Fi s- x - pulvini and phyllulse [fig. 1], which, however, are not so much 
developed as in some others of the Spruces. In some of the varieties 
the young twigs are pubescent; in the common type they are not. There 
is a ruffle of a few scales at the base of each year’s growth on each twig. 
It is composed of the per- 
Fig. 2. 
Kg' 3- 
Fig. 4. 
Fig- 5- 
Fig. 6. 
Male Catkins—Natural Size. 
sistent scales which origi¬ 
nally surrounded the bud. The buds [fig. 2] are small 
and oval, not so large as a small pea. The leaves are 
somewhat curved in form and tetragonal or compressed 
tetragonal in sedtion, and on each of the four sides there 
are from two to four or five rows of stomata [figs. 4 
and 5]; they are placed spirally on the branchlets, 
and are more or less adpressed to the stem which bears 
Fig. 7. 
Fig. 8. 
Fig. 9. 
A diminished view of a twig with cones. 
them, but not so much so as in some other Spruces. They 
vary from one-fourth of an inch in length to about an inch, 
and from obtuse to sharp, very stiff; when stunted they become 
smaller, more slender, and more acute, and with fewer rows 
of stomata. Fig. 3 is a magnified representation of part of 
a leaf taken from a branch thrown out from the stump of 
a tree that had been cut down, and which looked sickly and 
pale. Male catkins [fig. 6], usually two or three together, 
produced from the extremity of the branches, or at the base of 
the current year’s growth, surrounded with an envelope of 
brown scales at their base: they are from half an inch to an inch in length, cylindrical, and slightly curved. 
The anthers [fig. 7] are pedunculated, bilocular, yellow, with a pink crest; the free margin of the crest 
is rounded and lacinated. The pollen is plentiful and yellow. The female catkins [fig. 8] appear at 
the extremity of the branchlets, and at first are eredf, but soon become pendent. When young they are 
purplish crimson, but afterwards become green, which as they ripen passes into reddish brown. Loudon 
says that, in different soils and situations, the colour of the female catkins, when in flower, varies from 
a dark red or purple to a pale red or a yellow, or a greenish hue. These variations, however, are due 
to the age of the flower rather than to the qualities of the soil. The scales at this stage are rounded. 
The cones when mature are about 5 inches in length, 
and from i~ to 2 inches in diameter, although some¬ 
times they reach an inch or even two longer. Fig. 9 
is a diminished view of a branchlet bearing cones, shew¬ 
ing their pendent position. The scales are disposed 
Fw M spirally in eight rows, each with about thirty-two scales. 
The scales of the ripe cones are rhomboidal [fig. 10], and truncate and dentate at the apex. This, however, 
is only the form in the scales when mature, the rhomboidal form coming on by degrees. In a half-ripe 
Fig. 12. 
Fig- 13- 
cone 
