FIORENZO, fy&-re'n'tso, Di Lorenzo, Ital ian painter of the Umbrian school: b. Perugia, about 1440; d. there, 1521. Very little is known concerning him and he is not even mentioned by Vasari. Critics, studying the works ascribed to him, most of which are in the Pinacoteca of Perugia, have attempted to tell the masters under whom he studied. His principal works are 'The Nativity' ; The Adoration of the Magi' • 'The Adoration of the Shepherd' ; all in the Perugia Pinacoteca; the fresco of Saints Romano and Rocco at Saint Francesco at Deruta. Other works in the Pinacoteca, in the London National Gallery and elsewhere, have been attributed to him, but there exists a doubt in each case as to the attribution. One of these is a 'Saint Jerome> in the Jarves col lection, New Haven, Conn. Perugino was his most famous pupil. Consult Berenson, 'Cen tral Italian Painters of the Renaissance' (New York 1908) ; Graham, Carlyle, (The Problem of Fiorenzo di Lorenzo' (Perugia 1903) ; Hutton, Edward, (The Cities of Umbria.' FIR, a name sometimes used as coexten sive with the term pine and including the whole genus Pinus. In a narrower and stricter sense it is the name of a genus of trees (Abies) be longing to the order Coniferce, and the sub orderAbietinere, having solitary leaves growing round the branches. The fir is thus distin guished from the pine, the leaves of which grow in twos, threes, fours or fives; and from the cedar and the larch, both of which have the leaves fasciculated The term fir, thus limited, is applied only to the different varieties of the silver fir and the spruce fir. The silver firs are distinguished by having the cones erect, scales deciduous and leaves flat. The common silver fir is the Abies picea of botanists, the Pinus picea of Linneus. It is a native of the middle and south of Europe. The finest trees of this species are found in southern Italy; but the largest forests are those on the slopes of the Pyrenees, especially on the French side. It always prefers mountainous regions and is sometimes found at a height of nearly 6,000 feet. The height of the trunk is sometimes 150 feet and the diameter above 6 feet. It is the sapin of the French and the abies of the ancient Romans. It• is from this tree that Strassburg turpentine is procured; and its wood is of great use in shipbuilding (for masts, yards and spars), in house-carpentry, etc. To this genus also belong the A. sibirica, found on the Altaian Mountains; the Indian silver fir, a native of the slopes of the Himalaya Moun tains; and the A. canadensis or hemlock spruce fir. Other species of Abies, found in western North America (as also in the Hima layas), are trees sometimes rivaling in size the Douglas fir (mentioned below), and likewise yielding excellent timber. Among them are A. grandis, a Californian tree of 170 to 200 feet in height; A. ajnabilis, a species much resem
bling it; A. nobilis, a majestic tree, which forms vast forests on the mountains of northern Cali fornia; A. bracteata, a Californian species re markable for its slender stem, which rises to a height of 120 feet, and yet is only about one foot in diameter at the base, and likewise for the manner in which the middle lobe of each bractea of its cones is produced so as to re semble a leaf. Very similar to the silver fir, but generally of much smaller size, and indeed seldom much above 30 feet high, is the balm of Gilead fir (A. balsamea), a native of North America from Virginia to Canada. The wood is of little value, but the tree yields Canada balsam (q.v.).
The spruce firs have the cones pendulous, scales persistent and leaves tetragonous. Of this division the common or Norway spruce fir (A. excelsa) is the most important. It gets the name of Norway spruce from the fact that in that country it constitutes the principal timber; but it is also extensively cultivated in the middle of Europe and is found all over Si beria to lat. 70° N. The average height of the tree is from 80 to 150 feet; and it attains its maturity in about 70 or 80 years. The branches, regularly arranged round the main stem and gradually diminishing toward the top, give the tree a pyramidal form. Nearly every part of this tree is of use. The wood (white or Christiania deal) is adapted to various ordinary purposes; the longest and thinnest stems are very valuable in shipbuilding for making masts; and the stems of those trees that are found at a great height, and in which accordingly the yearly rings are very narrow, are eagerly sought by musical instrument makers for sounding boards. The bark is used in tanning; the young buds or shoots are used in making the drink known as spruce beer; and the resin which exudes from the tree supplies the common frankincense and the Burgundy pitch of com merce. The so-called Scotch fir is really a pine (q.v.).
The Pseudotsuga douglasii, closely related to the firs, and often regarded as a fir, is named after the Scotch botanist, David Douglas, who visited the Pacific Coast during the first half of the 19th century, and is known as the Douglas fir or spruce, red fir, yellow fir, Oregon pine (q.v.), etc. It is one of the most import ant trees of western America, especially of the Pacific States and British Columbia. It is a noble tree, often attaining a height of more than 250 feet and forms immense forests, espe cially from lat. 43° to lat. 52°. The bark, when the tree is old, is rugged and is from six to nine inches thick. The tree abounds in a clear, yellow resin. The timber is heavy, firm and valuable, and the growth of the tree is very rapid. See SPRUCE; HEMLOCK.