1909] Fernald,— A new Variety of Abies balsamea 203 
recent observations by others lead him to the conviction that the tree in 
which the awns of the bracts are so obvious in fully grown cones should 
be separated varietally from the ordinary form of the species. Сош- 
parison of the scales of disintegrated mature cones shows that in the 
typical А. balsamea the bract (including the erect awn) is ordinarily 
about two thirds as long as the lamina of its subtended scale, though 
varying from three sevenths to five sixths as long; while in the 
variety with divergent exserted awns the bract is ordinarily as long as, 
and occasionally a little longer than its subtended scale; and that in 
general the variety has slightly smaller cones than the typical form 
of the species.! On account of these characteristics of the cones the 
tree is here proposed as 
ABIES BALSAMEA (L.) Mill, var. phanerolepis, n. var., strobilis 
subevlindraceis; laminis ovuliferis maturis suborbicularibus vel 
reniformibus 8-13 mm. longis; laminis membranaceis 8-13 mm. 
longis, cuspide patenti exserta. 
Strobils subeylindric: mature laminas of the ovuliferous scales sub- 
orbicular or reniform, 8-13 mm. long; of the membranaceous bracts 
8-13 mm. long, with a spreading exserted awn: otherwise as in the 
typical form of the species.— QUEBEC, slopes of Percé Mt., Percé, 
Gaspé County, August 3, 1907 (Fernald & Collins, no. 860): New- 
FOUNDLAND, cool damp soil, Channel, July 27-August 1, 1901; 
damp woods, near Topsail, Conception Bay, August 12-19, 1901 
(Howe & Lang, nos. 975, 1303): Marne, Pembroke, July 23, 1909 
(Fernald); Grindstone Neck, Winter Harbor, September 25, 1909 
(Miss Mary Deane Dexter) Monhegan Island, September 6, 1909 
(Mrs. Edwin C. Jenney). 
This may well be the variation of Abies balsamea which has given 
rise to the report at various times of 4. Fraseri from New England. 
In that southern species, however, the cones are more ovoid and the 
bracts are very much longer than the scales and have strongly recurved 
broad tips. In Loudon's Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs there is a 
fairly characteristic figure (fig. 1053) of the cone of var. phanerolepis, 
indicated as an illustration of Picea balsamea. 
GRAY HERBARIUM. 
1 Measurements of mature scales of А, balsamea, taken at random from many cones, 
show the laminas of the scales to range from 11 to 15 mm. in length, with a mean of 
12.8 mm.; and the laminas of the bracts (including the awn) to range from 6 to 10 
mm. in length, with a mean of 8.5. Similar measurements of the scales of the variety 
show the laminas to vary from 8 to 13 mm. in length, with a mean of 11 mm.; and the 
laminas of the bracts to be of essentially the same length. 
