The common Spruce Fir (Abies excelsa) is a tree of stately growth, with an erect pyramidal form, and numerous tiers of drooping branches. It is the loftiest of European trees, having been found in Norway 180 feet high. The crest of the male flower is larger than in the genus Pinus, as shown at (d) fig. 98, in a magnified side view of one of the cells of a male scale (a), from which the pollen has been discharged, the empty case being shown at (c). The female scales (b) have each a small bract at the back, and two seeds inside, (e) the wings of which have each a little cavity at the lower part in which the seed lies, so that it is naked on one side, and clothed by the wing on the other. The Spruce Fir bears cones when the trees are of a very small size;
Fig. 98.—The Spruce Fir (Abies excelsa). and these cones are very ornamental when young, being of a rich purple, while the male catkins are yellow tinged with red at the base. The sap from the Spruce Fir does not flow freely when the bark is wounded, as it does from the Scotch Pine; but oozes out gradually, and is what is called Burgundy pitch in the shops. Spruce-beer is made from the young shoots of the American Black Spruce. There are many species of Abies, but the most interesting are Abies Douglasii, a very handsome tree only lately introduced, of very quick growth; and the Hemlock Spruce (Abies canadensis). This genus is called Pinus by the Linnean botanists, Picea by Professor Link and some German botanists; and Dr. Lindley, who calls it Abies, includes in it the Silver Fir, the Larch, and the Cedar.
THE GENUS PICEA.—THE SILVER FIR.
This genus, which includes all the Silver Firs, is readily distinguished from Abies by its leaves, which grow in two rows, one on each side the branch; thus the branch lies quite flat when placed on a table, or any other level surface. The leaves are also not the same on both sides as in the Spruce Firs, but the under side is marked by two distinct lines of silvery white, one on each side the midrib. The cones stand erect, and the dorsal bract is frequently so large as to appear above the tips of the scales; and the scales themselves are deciduous, falling off when the seeds are ripe, leaving the central rachis bare. This last peculiarity is very striking; as both the Pines and Spruce Firs retain the scales of their cones after the seeds have fallen. The seeds of the Silver Firs are much larger than those of the Spruces; and they are not attached to the wing in the same manner. The Silver Fir is a noble tree, and takes its name from the epidermis of its bark; which in young trees is of a whitish grey, and smooth, though when the tree is about fifty or sixty years old, it cracks and peels off, leaving the dark brown rough bark beneath. The cones are produced two or more together; they are upright and cylindrical, being nearly as large at both ends as in the middle. The leaves all curve upwards at the point, thus showing conspicuously the white lines on the under side. A remarkable circumstance connected with this tree is, that when it is cut down, the stump will remain alive for many years, and even increase considerably in size, without producing any leaves or branches. One in the forests of the Jura, which was ascertained to have lived ninety-two years after the tree had been cut down, had completely covered the section of the wood with bark. Strasburgh turpentine is produced from this tree. There are several species of this genus, some of which, as for example, Picea Webbiana, do not show the dorsal bract; while others, as P. nobilis, and P. bracteata, have it so large as to make the cone appear quite shaggy. All the species abound in resin, which frequently exudes from the cones. This genus is called Abies by Professor Link, and the German botanists.
THE GENUS LARIX.—THE LARCH.
This genus consists of only three species, which are easily distinguished from the other Abietineæ by their losing their leaves every winter. The common Larch (Larix europæa) is a very handsome tree, with drooping branches, and foliage of a yellowish green, which dies off of a red tinge in autumn. The leaves are linear, and they are produced in tufts in a sort of woody sheath, some of them appearing in the same sheath with the female catkins. The male catkins are smaller, but appear in the same manner. The cones are small, and show the dorsal bracts when young, but when ripe they are seldom visible. The seeds are winged, and so very small, that it appears wonderful that a tree frequently above a hundred feet high can spring from them. The cones are of a bright red when young, but they become brown when ripe. The Larch grows very rapidly, and in situations where no other tree would thrive. Its wood is very valuable, and its bark is nearly as useful for tanning as that of the oak. The trees, however, in some situations are subject to a disease called pumping, by which the centre of the trunk becomes as hollow as though it were intended for a pump. The sap of the Larch produces the Venice turpentine; and in some parts of France a kind of gum, called the Manne de Briançon, which is used medicinally, is collected from the leaves.
THE GENUS CEDRUS.—THE CEDAR.
There are only two species in this genus, the Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus Libani), and the Deodar (C. Deodara). The male catkins of the Cedar of Lebanon are produced singly, and each scale has a large crest. The cones are ovate, and the scales, which are very short and broad, fall with the seeds, in the same manner as those of the Silver Fir. The leaves resemble those of the Larch, but they are not deciduous. The male and female catkins are very often on different plants; and the trees attain a con siderable age before they produce perfect seeds. The Cedar is remarkable for the enormous size of its branches, and for the shelf-like character they assume. The tree in a living state lasts several centuries, but the wood is of a very coarse grain and not at all durable; and though the resin appears so abundant in the cones as to ooze through the scales, there is so little in the trunk that it is never used for turpentine.
The Deodar Cedar (C. Deodara) closely resembles the common Cedar in its catkins and cones, but the foliage is of a beautiful glaucous green, and the leaves are so much longer as to give a peculiarly graceful character to the tree. The wood is remarkably durable, very fragrant, and of an extremely fine grain, taking so bright a polish, that a table which Mr. Lambert had of it in his drawing-room has been compared to a slab of brown agate. The trunk abounds in resin, and it produces in India a great quantity of fluid turpentine, which though it is of rather a coarse quality, is much used by the natives; pitch and tar are also produced by charring the wood. The tree on the Himalayas grows above 150 feet high, with a trunk 30 feet or more in circumference, and it is said to live to a great age. It was only introduced into Britain in 1822, but there are numerous specimens of it in different parts of the kingdom, all of which appear quite hardy.