2276

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

in fives, rarely in fours or threes; at first sheathed, afterwardsnaked, very long, sharply triquetrous; the 2 angles rough, cana-liculate, sharp at the point. The wood of the cembra is light, soft,white, resinous, loose in the fibres, not tough.. The resin, whichmay be collected in quantities, is somewhat of the odour of citron,and is pellucid, yellowish, and hard. (Pall.)

f P. C. 2 pygmce'a; P. C. pumila Pall. Ross.; Slanez, Russ. —According toPallas, the trunk of this variety does not exceed 2 in. in thickness,and it is rarely above 6 ft. in height; the branches being not morethan 1 in. in diameter. Some specimens are much lower in height,prostrate, and shrubby. The branches of this variety are moreslender, the bark rougher and yellower, and the leaves more crowded,and shorter, than those of the species. The cones are scarcely largerthan those of P. sylvestris ; and the scales and seeds less than thoseof P. C. sibirica. In the east of Siberia , this variety is foundcovering rocky mountains, which are so barren, that herbage of nokind will grow on them; and also in valleys, where, however, itnever attains the size of a tree. Those found on the mountains aremuch more resinous and balsamic. The young shoots are reckonedan excellent antiscorbutic, and are much more agreeable in tastethan those of the A'bies. Pallas had a specimen from Montanvert,in Savoy, which resembled the Siberian variety in the number andcloseness of the leaves, only they were much thicker. (Pall.) Thereis a plant at Dropmore which has been twenty years planted, and, in1837, was not more than 6 in. high, which we presume to be thisvariety. The same may be said of a tree in Hopetoun Gardens,near Edinburgh , said to be upwards of 100 years old, and which, in1836, only measured 5 ft. 6 in. high.

1 P. C. 3 helvetica Lodd. Cat. , ed. 1836; the Swiss, Cembran, or StonePine; has the cones short and roundish, with close scales ; and theplants are of more vigorous growth than the Siberian variety; thewood, also, is said to be more fragrant. This is much the com-monest form of P. Cembra in British gardens; and it has beentreated as a species by Du Hamel and Haller. In the Brian^ion-nais, this variety is called Alvies; and in Savoy, Aroles . In Dau-phine, it has a different name in almost every village. ( See Villars’sPlantes du Dauphine, iv. p. 807.) In Kasthofer ’s Voyage dans lespetits Cantons, et dans les Alpes Rhetiennes, it appears that thisvariety grows at the elevation of 6825 ft. above the level of the sea;and it vegetates there so slowly, that it does not increase morethan a span (9 in.) in height in six years. A tree, the trunk ofwhich was 19in. in diameter, when cut down, was found to have353 concentric circles. The wood is very fragrant, and retains itsodour for centuries. In the ruins of the ancient Chateau of Tarasp ,Kasthofer found the greater number of the chambers ornamentedwith this wood, which, after having remained there for centuries,still continued to exhale its delicious perfume. (Voy., &c., p. 196.)This odoriferous property in the wood, while it is agreeable toman, is so offensive to bugs and moths, as to deter them fromestablishing themselves in rooms where it is used, either as wain-scoting, or as furniture. When this variety of P. Cembra was in-troduced into British gardens is uncertain, but it is now common wthe nurseries.

Description. In England, P. Cembra is an erect tree, with a straighttrunk, and a smooth bark. When standing singly, it is regularly furnishedto the summit with whorls of branches, which are more persistent thanthe branches of most other species of Abietinae. The leaves are from 3to 5 in a sheath, three-ribbed; the ribs serrated, one of them green andshining, and the other two white and opaque. In most species of pine,