Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol04B.djvu/49

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Abies
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seedling was planted out in 1868. M. Phillipe L. de Vilmorin’ states that the tree was in 1905, 50 feet high by 5 feet in girth; and has three main stems, one of which, however, was broken by a storm two years ago. In its habit and foliage it resembles A. Pinsafo more than the other parent. The leaves, however, are longer and less rigid than in A. Pinsapo, and bear stomata only on their lower surface ; moreover their radial arrangement on the branchlets is imperfect. The cones, which are produced in abundance and contain fertile seeds, resemble those of A. cephalonica, being fusiform in shape ; they have longer bracts than in A. Pinsapo, in some years exserted, in other years shorter and concealed between the scales. Seedlings raised from this tree, now four years old, have acuminate sharp leaves like those of A, cephalonica.

2. Abies insignis, Carrière, Rev. Hort. 1890, p. 230. This hybrid was obtained in 1848 or 1849 in the nursery of M. Renault at Bulgnéville in the Vosges. A branch of A. Pinsapo was grafted on a stock of the common silver fir (A. pectinata) ; and after some years the grafted plant produced cones. Seeds from these were sown ; and of the seedlings raised one-half were like A. Pinsapo, the remainder being intermediate in character, it was supposed, between A. Pinsapo and A. pectinata ; and the variation was considered to be the result of graft hybridisation. However, at no great distance there was growing a tree of A. Nordmanniana ; and it is more probable that the hybrid character of the seedlings was the result of a cross from A. Pinsapo fertilised by the pollen of A. Nordmanniana. A complete account of these seedlings is given by M. Bailly.’

3. Abies Nordmanniana speciosa, Hort.? This hybrid was raised in 1871-1872 by M. Croux in his nurseries near Sceaux, the cross being effected by placing pollen from A. Pinsapo on female flowers of A. Nordmanniana. A full account of this hybrid is given by M. Bailly.’

4. Moser’s hybrids. Four different forms, all raised from A. Pinsapo, fertilised by the pollen of A. Nordmanniana, which were obtained in 1878 by M. Moser at Versailles. Full details are given in Dr. Master’s paper, to which we refer our readers.

Distribution

A. Pinsapo has a restricted distribution, being confined to the Serrania de Ronda, a name given to the mountainous region around Ronda in the south of Spain. The late Lord Lilford informed Bunbury* in 1870 that he had seen it growing on the Sierra d’Estrella in Portugal; but we have not been able to confirm the statement.

There are three main forests of this species, none of considerable extent, occurring in localities at considerable distances apart. I visited these forests in December 1906, and explain the rare occurrence of the tree as due to the fact, that in the dry climate of the south of Spain, it can only exist on the northern slopes of mountain


1 Hortus Vilmorinianus, 69, plate xii. (1906). See also Gard. Chron, 1878, p. 438; Rev. Hort. 1889, p. 115, and 1902, p. 162, fig. 66.

2 Rev. Hort. 1890, pp. 230, 231.

3 Arboretum Notes, 147 (1889).