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80 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland
reported to occur also at Bellova in the Rhodope mountains in Bulgaria; but, so far
as we can discover, these statements have not been confirmed. A fossil species
which has been identified with the existing tree by Webber has been found in the
interglacial deposits at Hottingen near Innsbruck in the Tyrol. An allied species,
Picea omorikcides, Webber, 1 has been found at Aue in Saxony in a preglacial
deposit which is of the same age as the Cromer forest bed on the coast of Norfolk.
Lokowitz has also found near Mulhouse in Alsace some remains of a spruce in the
middle Oligocene beds which resembles Picea Omorika.
In the herbarium at Kew there are specimens collected by V. Crucic on the
Drina, and others with good cones gathered by Elwes at 2000 to 3000 feet altitude.
(A. H.)
I visited the valley of the Drina in Bosnia in 1900 on purpose to see this tree,
and after driving a long day east from Serajevo, reached Rogatica, from where Herr
Gschwind, the obliging forest officer of the district, was good enough to accompany
me to Han Semec, a Gendarmerie station on the road to Visegrad, about 15 miles
from Rogatica. Han Semec is at an elevation of 3800 feet, and is surrounded by
beautiful forests of Austrian and Scots pines, spruce, silver fir, and beech.
The climate of the district is very cold in winter and warm in summer. The
minimum temperature being 33 Reaumur on 23rd December, + 30 , the maximum
on 7th July 1897, the snow lying as long as 4-5 months. 2 The rainfall in summer is
heavy, amounting to 116.2 centimetres, which fell on 124 days, and the weather was
wet most of the time I was there.
After passing through some beautiful mountain meadows and primaeval forest of
large spruce and silver fir mixed in places with beech and aspen, as well as small oaks
and large birch, we came to the edge of a deep rocky ravine running down to the
Drina valley. On the steep limestone cliffs overhanging this ravine, which are a
favourite haunt of chamois, Picea Omorika was growing in clumps, and isolated
trees occurred among common spruce, Scots and Austrian pine.
The branches are short and drooping as compared with those of common spruce,
and the cones being found only near the top of the tree, we had to cut one down in
order to procure fruiting specimens; on this I found young cones of the year, cones
of last year which had not yet opened, and which, according to the forester, contained
good seed only when there was turpentine exuding from them, and old cones which
hang two or three years on the tree after shedding their seed. In habit and aappearance
the tree resembles the American Picea alba more than any tree I know, though its
nearest botanical affinities are with P. sitchensis and P. ajanensis. Plate 28, which is
from two of several photographs kindly sent me by Herr Othmar Reiser of the Landes-
museum, Serajevo, Bosnia, gives an excellent idea of the forest and of individual trees.
The average size of the full - grown trees on these steep cliffs was
not above 50-60 feet, with about i foot of diameter, but I found some
measuring 80-90 feet high and 18 inches diameter. Young seedlings were scarce
and difficult to find on the mossy rocks; but we collected 20 or 30 plants, of
1 Engler's Hot. Jahrb. xxiv. 1 898, Heft 4, 510, 504.
2 Cf. Met. Beob. Land Stationen in Bosnien ( 1899).
Picea 81
which I brought the smallest home in a tin box alive, and planted the larger ones in
the forester's garden at Han Semec. Those which I brought home have established
themselves slowly, but a quantity of seed received in the autumn germinated well in
boxes, and in November 1905 was much larger than common spruce of the same age.
They were quite uninjured by the severe frost of May 21, 1905, which injured the
common spruce very severely, and on my limy soil are growing faster and more
vigorously than any other species of Picea.
The tree appears to have been first distributed by Messrs. Frobel of Zurich
about 1884, and has been found quite hardy in England, as might be expected from
the climate of its native country.
The finest specimen I know of in England is in the garden of W. H. Griffiths,
Esq., at Campden, Gloucestershire, where it was bearing a good crop of cones near the
summit in August 1905, and measured about 25 feet in height; this seems to show
that the tree prefers limestone. At Kew there are three fine trees which were
raised from seed obtained from Belgrade in 1889. These trees are now (1905)
13 inches in girth at 5 feet from the ground, and the tallest one is 23 feet high,
making a strong, vigorous leading shoot, and assuming the very narrow pyramidal
form which is so remarkable in the wild trees. The other two are 18 and 20 feet
in height.
At Tortworth Court it has attained about 15 feet in height, and produced
cones containing in the year 1902 apparently good seed ; but Lord Ducie tells me
that no plants raised from them can now be found. Though the tree is a very
ornamental one I do not expect it can have any value as a forest tree in Great
Britain, its timber having, so far as known, no special use. Judging from the soil
and climate of its native country it should succeed in the Highlands of Scotland,
especially on limestone soil, as well as, or better than in England, and as seedlings
can now be procured in small numbers it will no doubt be planted by all lovers of
coniferse. (H. J. E.)
M