PINE FAMILY 



67 



4. Abies concolor Lindl. White Fir. Fig. 141. 



Abies concolor Lindl. Journ. Hort. Soc. Lond. 5: 210. 1850. 



Picea lou'iana Gord. Pinetum Suppl. 53. 1862. 



Abies lo'iviana Murr. Proc. Hort. Soc. Edinb. 3: 317. 1863. 



Abies grandis concolor Murr. Gard. Chron. 11. 3: 105. 1875. 



Abies concolor lowiana Lemmon, West. Am. Cone-Bearers 64. 

 1895. 



A tree attaining a height of 70-80 m. with a trunk 

 1.5-2 m. in diameter, and short stout branches 

 forming a narrow spire-Hke crown, the branchlets 

 glabrous and shining. Leaves crowded, erect on the 

 branches, 5-7 cm. long, usually 3 mm. wide, pale blue- 

 green on both surfaces, on the lower branches flat, 

 straight, rounded to acuminate at apex, on the upper 

 fertile branches curved and usually keeled on the 

 upper surface ; staminate flowers rose color or dark 

 red ; cones oblong, 7-12 cm. long, scales 30-35 mm. 

 wide, three-fourths as long, fan-shaped, puberulent; 

 bracts thin, scarcely half as long as the scales, 

 emarginate or truncate, ending in a short, slender 

 tip; seeds 8-12 mm. long, dark dull brown; wings 

 twice as long as the seeds. 



Common component of the coniferous forests, Arid Transition Zone; northern Oregon to the Rocky 

 Mountains of southern Colorado southward to northern New Me.xico and San Pedro Martir Mountain, 

 Lower California. A common tree in the great forest belt of the Sierra Nevada, where it attains its 

 greatest size. Wood pale brown to nearly white, coarse-grained, light, soft, and not durable; used for 

 lumber, packing boxes, and paper pulp. Type locality: mountains of New Mexico. 



5. Abies magnifica Murr. Red Fir. 



Abies magnifica Murr. Proc. Hort. Soc. Edinb. 3: 318. 1863. 

 Abies nobilis magnifica Kell. Trees Calif. 35. 1882. 



Fig. 



142. 



A tree often 60-70 m. high with a trunk 2-3 

 m. in diameter, clothed with comparatively 

 short branches, the upper ascending, the lower 

 drooping, the branchlets puberulent the first 

 year, finally glabrous and silvery gray. Leaves 

 ribbed on both sides and almost equally 4- 

 sided with stomata on all sides, very glaucous 

 the first year, becoming blue-green, those on 

 the lower branches 2-ranked, round or blunt- 

 pointed, 20-35 mm. long, those on the upper 

 fertile branches curved upward and completely 

 covering the upper side of the branches, acute, 

 2 cm. long, staminate flowers deep purplish 

 color, the pistillate oblong, reddish brown ; 

 cones oblong-cylindric, 15-20 cm. long, scales 

 stalked, 35 mm. wide and a little longer, 

 gradually narrowing toward the heart-shaped 

 base; bracts two-thirds as long as the scales, 

 abruptly contracted to a slender tip, oblong or 

 spatulate; seed deep brown, 2 cm. long with a 

 shining, broadly wedge-shaped wing. 



,, A characteristic tree of the Canadian Zone; Cascade Mountains of southern Oregon southward to the 

 North Coast Ranges of California and through the Sierra Nevada. Wood light red-brown, light, soft and 

 quite durable. Type locality: Sierra Nevada. First discovered by Fremont. 



Abies magnifica shastensis Lemmon. Rep. Calif. State Board Forestry 3: 145. 1890. (Abies shastensis 

 Lemmon, Oard. & Forest, 10: 184. 1897.) The Shasta fir closely resembles the Red fir, but the bracts are 

 well exserted and yellowish. The general range is that of the species but it is less common. The center 

 bract in Fig. 142 is from the Shasta fir. 



