A
3 5
not be detrimental to its growth. When young, and in warm weather it will bear being transplanted
see Hart s Essays on Husbandry.
The timber of P Cembra is large, and has a finer grain than common deal; its smell is remarkably
pleasant. The bark of the trunk is of a whitish east. The leaves are of a lighter green than most of
the other species, and they closely ornament the branches all round. They arc from three to four and
a. half inches long; the number, that springs from one sheath, is five. The flowers have a more beautiful
appearance than in any other species, being of a bright purple colour, as are also the unripe MU
grown cones, which have a bloom upon them resembling that of a ripe Orleans plumb. The cones are
usually almost two inches in diameter, their length is in general not more than three, and the scales are
of an oval form often reflexed at the margins. The nuts are triangular, and easily cracked, especially
when ripe. The kernels are about the size of a common Pea, and have the whiteness and softness
(when stripped of a brownish rind) of a blanched Almond. They have an agreeable oily taste, and
o ten form part of a Swiss as well as of a Siberian desert; in the latter country, during a favourable
season, such quantities are produced that the poorest peasants may provide themselves with many
pounds at a very trifling expence. 1
In the plantations of Jeremiah Dixon, Esq. near Leeds, may be seen several Pines of this species,
which, in that neighbourhood, is generally denominated the Gleddow Pine, from the place where it is
cultivated. On Lord Clive’s estate also, in Shropshire, there are very flourishing plantations of i f the
seeds of these last were brought from Switzerland by Mr. Hyams, who kept the Florida gardens some
time ago, and who after having supplied a few of the nurserymen with plants, sold the remainder of
Ins stock (amounting to more than two thousand) to the above-mentioned nobleman. They are become
a great ornament to the vicinity of Walcot. P. Cembra is one of the handsomest trees of the whole
genus, but of the slowest growth, as may be seen from those at Mill Hill, the two largest of which are
seventy years of age, and the smallest about fifty, as I have been informed by the gardener, who lived
there a considerable time. At a younger period, their growth is still slower, for they seldom attain the
height of three feet until their age amounts to fourteen years or more. I have seen trees of this height
bear Male Flowers. This species at present is scarce in the Nursery Gardens about London, and bears
a high puce; it is to be regretted that more of this very ornamental tree has not been introduced into
this country.
EXPLANATION OF TAB. 23 & 24.
T a b . 2 3 , representing the Male Flowers and Ripe Cones, was taken from specimens procured in the
Royal Gardens of Kew.
a, A. Male Catkin.
B. Anthera discharging its Pollen.
c. Young Cone.
d. Ripe Cone.
e. e. Its Scales.
f. f. Seeds.
g. Seed opened to shew the kernel.
h. Kernel, with a separate view of its basis.
i. Longitudinal section of the kernel.
k, K. Embryo with its radicle and cotyledons.
l. Leaves.
M. Point of a leaf.
I ah. 24, shewing the full-grown but unripe Cones, was delineated from a specimen in the garden
of the late Mr. Peter Collinson, at Mill Hill.
a. Female Catkin.
b. Fully formed, but unripe, Cone.
T