68 



PINACEAE 



6. Abies nobilis Lindl. 



Noble Fir. Fig. 143. 



Abies nobilis Lindl. in Penny Cyclop. 1 : 30. 1S33. 

 A forest tree 35-50 m. or rarely 80 m. 

 high with a trunk 1-2.5 m. in diameter, 

 and short, rigid branches clothed with short, 

 stout, remote lateral branches, the branch- 

 lets puberulent 4-5 years. Leaves 25-35 

 mm. long, stomatiferous on all sides, blue- 

 green, those on the lower branches spread- 

 ing, somewhat flattened, deeply grooved 

 on the upper surface, keeled below, rounded 

 or notched at the apex, those on the upper 

 fertile branches erect, incurved and 

 crowded, thick, nearly 4-sided, acute; 

 staminate flowers cylindric, reddish or 

 purple, the pistillate cylindric, 25-35 mm. 

 long; cones oblong-cylindric, 10-13 cm. 

 long, their scales fan-shaped, about 3 cm. 

 wide and as long; bracts with fringed 

 margins, abruptly contracted at apex into 

 a long, tapering point, projecting beyond 

 and reflexed over the scales so as to al- 

 most conceal them ; seeds 12 mm. long, 

 pale reddish brown, about equaling the 



broad wings. 



Coniferous forests, Canadian and Hudsonian 

 Zones; Olympic and Cascade Mountains of Wash- 

 ington, from Mt. Baker southward to the Mackenzie 

 River, and the Siskiyou Mountains of southern 

 Oregon and northern California. Often forming extensive forests in the Cascade Mountains. Wood hard 

 and strong, pale brown with reddish streaks; used for interior linishmg under the name of "larch. lype 

 locality: high mountains, near the Cascades of the Columbia. 



7. Abies venusta (Dougl.) K. Koch. Santa Lticia Fir. Fig. 144. 



Pinus z'enusta Dougl. Comp. Bot. Mag. 2: 152. 



1836. 

 Pinus bracteata D. Don. Trans. Linn. Soc. 17: 



442. 1837. 

 Abies bracteata Nutt. N. Am. Sylva 3: 137. 1849. 

 Abies venusta K. Koch, Dendr. 2-: 210. 1873. 



A tree. 30-50 m. high, with a thin, 

 spire-like crown, the trunk sometimes 1 

 m. in diameter, the branchlets glabrous, 

 glaucous when young ; bark near the base 

 2-3 cm. thick, slightly fissured and broken 

 into appressed scales. Leaves flat, rigid, 

 acuminate and pungent, with a callous tip, 

 dark green above, silvery marked below 

 with broad bands of stomata ; staminate 

 flowers pale yellow ; pistillate with ob- 

 cordate yellow-green bracts ; cones on 

 stout peduncles, oval 7-10 cm. long ; bracts 

 much exserted, with slender, elongated, 

 awn-like tips, often 2-3 cm. long; seeds 

 6 mm. long, red-brown, nearly as long as 

 the wing. 



A unique species, found only in the Santa 

 Lucia Mountains, Monterey County, California. 

 Upper Sonoran and Transition Zones. 



^:^ 



Family 3. TAXODIACEAE. 

 Taxodium Family. 

 Monoecious trees with linear, spirally arranged leaves decurrent and persistent 

 on the regularly or ultimately deciduous branchlets. Staminate aments terminal 

 on the branchlets or on short lateral branchlets, the stamens spirally arranged, 

 each bearing several pollen-sacs attached to the lower half of the flattened, scale- 

 like connective. Ovulate aments terminal with many spirally arranged ovuhterous 

 scales, each bearing several ovules. Cone woody, the scales thickened toward the 

 summ'it, usually widely spreading from the axis ; seeds erect, small, and irregularly 

 angled ; cotyledons 2 or more. 



A family of about 8 genera, widely distributed over both hemispheres 

 with 2 species, is found in the southeastern United States and Me.xico. 



Besides the following, Taxodium, 



