PICEA CEPHALONICA. 
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3 
wind is apt to break off or diftort them. The young plants alfo, from the stiffnefs of the young leaves, and 
the regularity of their arrangement projecting from the branches, ftrike the eye as peculiar. In this refpedl 
and at this age they have a great refemblance to P. P inf aft o, which has the same noli-me-tangere kind of 
appearance. 
Geo graft hical Dijlribiition. —Its chief and beft-known locality is the top of a ridge of mountains (the 
antient Mount Enos), known as the Black Mountain (from the forefts of this tree which clothed it), in 
Cephalonia, about 4000 or 5000 feet above the level of the fea. In 1793 this foreft was 36 miles in 
circumference; but during the difturbed ftate of the iflands, about 1798, was, it is fuppofed, wantonly fet on 
fire by the peafantry. The fire lafted three months, and although portions of the antient foreft are ftill to 
be feen on the mountain, the greater part was deftroyed, fo that the appearance of the mountain no longer 
juftifies its name, efpecially on its fouthern fide, where the precipitous point, which rifes by a fingle majeftic 
elevation from the bafe to the fummit, is broken by numerous deep gullies, difplaying the white limeftone rock 
of which the mountain is compofed. The ridge is very narrow, and its Tides fteep and in many places almoft 
without foil. The tree frequently fprings from crevices in fuch barren fpots, but is faid by Loudon to attain 
a large fize only in mountain hollows, where the foil is deep and the fituation fheltered. Notwithftanding 
the deftrudion caufed by the fire and other caufes, thoufands (perhaps millions) of trees ftill remain, 
efpecially at a place called Rudi; but there is little chance of the foreft ever being reftored, fo long as 
goats are allowed to pafture on the mountain. The deftrudtion of the foreft has ferioufly affeded the 
climate of fome of the neighbouring diftribts, having loft that amount of moifture in fummer that once 
belonged to it. Sifi, once populous and healthy, is at prefent uninhabitable at certain feafons of the year, 
in confequence of the infalubrity of the climate. 
The tree is alfo found in Greece. The fpecimens called by Dr Heldreich Picea Panachaica were 
found at Mount Boidus, but from the fignification of the name adopted by Dr Pleldreich it is probable 
that it is found throughout the whole of Achaia. Mr Gordon fays that it is found “ on the different 
mountains in Greece, particularly on the facred Apollo and Mount Parnaffus ; alfo on the lofty and 
rugged Mount Oeta, on Mount Olympus, and in Attica ; ” but as in the place where he records this he 
confounds P. Aftollinis with P. Cefthalonica, the reference to Mount Apollo probably refers to the former, and 
we cannot affign the other localities with any confidence to either. In his “ Supplement” Mr Gordon recog- 
nifes the difference between thefe trees. 
Hiftory. —The Black Foreft in Cephalonia was of fome importance in the feventeenth century. It 
fupplied wood to the iflands of Cephalonia, Zante, and Ithaca, as well as to the Venetian arfenal in Corfu. 
The fteps adopted for preferving the wood, and its ufe by the inhabitants, will be found in a decree of 
Andrea Corner, Proveditor-General, dated 1678. 
The late General Sir Charles Napier was the firft to introduce the tree into England. He was 
Governor of Cephalonia in 1824 and fubfequent years, and exerted himfelf, with his charableriftic energy, to 
develop the refources of the ifland. One of thefe, which he thought might be turned to practical account, 
was the foreft of P. Cefthalonica on the Black Mountain. Pie does not feem, however, to have been aware 
of its intereft as a diftinbl and interefting fpecies. To him it was “a fir,” and nothing but “a fir.” He 
fays in his work, “The Colonies,” “It is well known to planters that firs growing in high and expofed 
fituations poffefs great durability; and this is the cafe with the firs grown on the Black Mountain, the wood 
of which is of the hardeft texture.” But the inquiries of fome of his friends induced him to fend a packet 
of the feeds to this country, from which the oldeft plants in Britain have been raifed. 
At the time that Sir Charles Napier was Governor of Cephalonia, Sir Frederick Adam was Lord 
High Commiffioner of the Ionian Iflands, and various differences arofe between them, which gave rife to 
a fpirit of hoftility, out of which sprung an unmerited charge made by Sir Charles Napier againft Sir Frede¬ 
rick Adam regarding this tree. 
[ 2 ] b Loudon 
