Nor is the difference loft as the tree advances in years. It becomes more horizontal and tabulated,
but ftill fomewhat rounded, and never, unlefs in exceptional cafes, fo truncated as the Cedar of Lebanon.
But what is the value of thefe differences : to what do they amount ? It is a difference in phyfical conftitution,
and not in ftrudture or form. And we apprehend that, although variations in this refpect may be
admitted as a prima facie indication that fpecific differences exift, yet they are in themfelves no proof of fuch
difference; and if a minute comparifon of two fuppofed fpecies fails to (hew any peculiarities of ftructure,
mere fize of parts and mode of growth cannot of themfelves conftitute a diftinct fpecies.
The three Cedars have three different degrees of hardinefs. Mr Glendinning {loc. cit. fiipra) fays—
Difference
in hardinefs.
" There is, however, another important fadt, of which I have endlefs proof, bearing materially
on the queftion at iffue. Six years ago I fent a few plants of C. A tlantica to Scotland:
they got diftributed, fome on the eaftern and weftern coafts, others in the interior. At that
time it was called C. A fricana: the very name, in fpite of my affertion to the contrary, induced every perfon
to look upon it as tender. It has turned out that, when planted with the Lebanon and Deodar, the
Lebanon is ftunted and makes no headway; the Deodar gets fcorched, and often lofes parts of its branches
and foliage; whereas th z Atlantica neither becomes injured nor ftancls ftill, but grows away moft vigoroufly."
This ftatement is fully confirmed by fubfequent experience, more efpecially by that of the fevere winter of
1860-61. An admirable digeft of the effects of that winter has been made by Mr Charles Palmer of
Manchefter, a young enthufiaft in conifers, who has accumulated, with great pains and trouble, a large
amount of information on the fubject from every part of the kingdom. The details which he thus brought
together he has tabulated with great clearnefs; and with rare liberality has placed the refults of his labours
(contained in three thick folio ledgers) at our difpofal for this work. Our readers will often profit by his
materials. From his tables it appears that out of the inftances reported to him, the relative proportions of
deaths and fevere injuries, as againft total efcape and flight injury, in the cafe of the three Cedars, were as
follows:—
" One in 2J killed or feverely injured in C. Deodara.
,. 7i c- L i i a »L
.. 10I ,. „ C. Atlantica."
It is to be noted that thefe proportions are not to be taken as giving any abfolute refults. They are merely
of ufe as relative refults, for they reprefent an average of thofe data only which Mr Palmer could pick up.
But as all were taken impartially, and without felection, the value of the relative refults remains unaffected.
Mr Glendinning concludes the paffage above quoted by afking—" Now I (hould like to afl< one
queftion of botanifts—viz., Can plants of one fpecies fuftain (all circumftances being the fame) different
degrees of temperature ?" We fhould imagine that no one can doubt it. It is in the vegetable kingdom
as in the animal. In every fpecies in the animal kingdom there are fome members hardier than others:
witnefs the differences in this refpect in the human race, nay, in every man's own family. So in the vegetable
kingdom: no two peas fown out of the fame pod will have the fame degree of hardinefs. And Mr
Palmer's tables furnilh a ftriking illuftration of the fact in the very fubjedl before us, as it appears utterly
fatal to the idea that any value can be put upon phyfical conftitution alone as a fpecific character. Of the
nurferymen's varieties of C. Deodara, Mr Palmer's reports (hew that in the cafe of the two extreme varieties
one in two of the Var. viridis were killed, while in the Var. robnjla only one in fix were fo.
In the Cedar of Lebanon the leaves are of a middle fize, between the Cedrus Atlantica and the Deodar
; they are alfo lighter in colour, of a greener hue, and thinner than either. The Cedrus
Difference Atlantica has them Ihorter, more glaucous, of a darker green, and (harper than thofe of the
other two. In the Deodar they are longer than in either of the others, and darker green and
more glaucous than thofe of C. Libani, but not of fo dark a green or fo filvery as thofe of C. Atlantica,
The point of the leaf in C. Atlantica is nearly equally pointed on both fides. In the Cedar of Lebanon it
is bevelled off from behind, that is, from the rounded fide. The greater or lefs filverinefs or glaucous hue
(although not the darker or lighter colour of the leaf) is due, in a great meafure, to the number of filvery
ftomata
ftomata on the leaf. If the number of ftomata were conftant and well defined in the three kinds, we (hould
reckon it a good botanical diftindtion. Where it is tolerably conftant and defined, it is a moft ufeful one;
but here, like fo many of the other characters of the Cedar, it is too variable to be much relied on. If we
examine with a lens a random-plucked leaf of the Cedar of Lebanon, we (hall moft probably find that on
the rounded back of the leaf there are at moft two or three widely feparated rows of ftomata, and on each fide
of the midrib of the inner fide we (hall find two or three rows of ftomata; while in Cedrus Atlantica we find
_ the ftomata larger and more diftinct, and three or four rows on each fide of the midrib, and as many but
more irregular rows on the back. I n the Deodar we fhould find from four to fix rows of ftomata on each
fide of the midrib, and on the back one or two rows, or perhaps only a few fcattered irregular ftomata towards
the middle, and thefe broader, lefs defined, ufually without the filvery mealinefs peculiar to the ftomata of the
fir tribe. The back in the Deodar feems more fubjedt to depreffions, caufecl by half-effaced ftomata, than
the others. The next leaf plucked might give the fame refults; but after having examined feveral taken
from different parts of the tree, we fhould find that the formula no longer ran true. The C. Atlantica,
however, can generally be recognifed by the fhortnefs of its leaves; fo that four rows of ftomata on its leaf
have proportionably more effect than five on that of the Deodar; befides, the contraft from the darker green
of the leaf makes the filverinefs more apparent.
At one time it was maintained that there was a difference in the form of the leaf when cut in faction,
the leaves of one fpecies being triquetral, thofe of another being boat-fhaped, and of the third quadrangular.
This was a pure miftake, arifing from the obfervation having been made upon dried or frefh fpecimens,
where the leaves had or had not fhrunk into abnormal forms. They are all alike in fedtion, although they
differ confiderably in length and breadth.
The cone of the African fpecies is fmaller than that of either thofe of C. Libani or C. Deodara: thefe
are about equal in fize. The form of the Deodar cone is perhaps a little more oblate
in''the cone l' i a n that of the others, but the difference is certainly very
flight. Fig. 9 (hews the relative form of all three ; the plain
line indicates that of C. Libani, the (haded line that of C. Deodara, and
the dotted line that of C. Atlantica. Thefe outlines are copied from the
figures publifiied by Dr Hooker (,Natural Hijlory Review for Jan. 1862),
as the moft charadteriftic he could find of the different fpecies; but there
would, we think, be no difficulty in picking out fpecimens of all three which
(hould fit the fame profile.
This was a fpecific character formerly much relied upon. It was
thought that the fcales of the Cedar of Lebanon never
Difference in the feparated fpontaneoufly from the axis, while thofe of the
perfiltence of the
scales of the cone. Deodar did fo re.adily. This is a miftake into which many
men of eminence fell from want of fufficient materials and
information. They received cones of the C. Libani from Lebanon, and
thefe were fo hard and fo perfiftent, that mechanical means had to be
contrived for breaking up the cone. Lambert fays—"The following is the
beft mode of extracting them (the feeds) from the cones: let a hole be bored with a gimlet exactly
through the middle of each cone from the bafe to the apex. Put them in a tub of water, in which
they remain until next day, then let a wooden peg, rather bigger than the gimlet, be thruft into the
hole, and it will fo divide the cones that the different fcales may be taken away and the feeds picked
out."—(Genus Pinus, ii. 90.) Somewhat fimilar inftructions are given by M. Loifeleur Deflongchamps,
with a little more detail, fuch as fawing off the bafe of the cone, putting the cones in a vice, &c.
Had Mr Lambert or M. Deflongchamps lived near a grove of old Cedars, they would not have
fallen into this error. They would have found that the whole of the fcales and feeds drop from
the axis (as in any other Picea) when nature is ready for the operation. If plucked before (he is
[ 9 ] c ready,