4 BOTANICAL GAZET1E. 



Notes 011 Western Conifers.— In another publication I in- 

 tend to give a full account of the observations on Coniferae made in 

 the Pacific States, when with Prof. Sargent and Dr. Parry I explor- 

 ed their forests, but it seems proper that I should not withhold any 

 longer the principal results arrived at. 



Abies amabilis, (Douglas) Forbes, is not a variety of A. grandis as 

 I had assumed, but a very distinct species peculiar to the higher 

 mountains of the Cascade Range from Oregon to British Columbia. 

 It is easily recognized by its dense, dark green, glossy leaves, very 

 white underneath, usually emarginate, but on the fertile branchlets 

 acute; by its large very thick purple cones and oblancolate 

 acuminate bracts. 



Abies nobilis, (Douglas) Lindley, is peculiar to the higher moun- 

 tains of Oregon and has not yet been found in California nor, as far 

 as I can learn, in Washington Territory. Its grooved leaves crowded 

 on the branchlets, and its large purple cones with long exsert re- 

 curved bracts, well characterize it. The tree on Mount Shasta 

 which has gone by this name (also in the Flora of California) is dis 

 tinguished by its quadrangular leaves, keeled on the upper side ; its 

 large cones considerably resemble those of nobilis and have often, 

 not always, exsert and recurved bracts; it is a form of A. magnified 

 Murr., the common Red Fir of the Californian Sierras, which has 

 bracts normally enclosed. 



Finns reflexa, n. sp., {P. Jiexilis var. reflexa, Eng. in Rothrock's 

 Rep. Bot. Exp. Wheeler) proves to be quite distinct from flexilis, not 

 only by the reflexed scales of the cone but also and principally by the 

 long peduncled cylindric female aments, erect in the first, recurved in 

 the second year, which associate it with the true Strobi, while the 

 large wingless seeds distinguish it from the other species of that 

 section. 



P. a/bieau/is, Eng., is specifically distinguished from P. jiexilis 

 by its subglobose purple cones with short, thick scales and its thin 

 white at last scaly bark. 



P. Chiliitahuana, Eng., observed by us in the Arizona Mountains, 

 proves to be of peculiar interest as maturing its 'cones in the third 

 year, the only American species with this character, which I have 

 found only once more in the Mediterranean P. Pinea. 



P. Jeffrey i, Murr., holds its characters well wherever we have 

 seen it trom the mountains west of Mt. Shasta, where it was first dis- 

 covered, down to the San Bernardino Mountains, affecting more par- 

 ticularly the eastern slopes. The glaucous branchlets with pleasantly 

 aromatic fragrance, thinner glaucous foliage, the great size of the 

 cones with thin, spiny recurved mucro on the scales, large seeds and 

 more numerous cotyledons, distinguish it from P. ponderosa which 

 has brownish-green branchlets with a turpentine odor and dark green 

 coarser foliage. 



Pinus Arizonica, Eng., has also been repeatedly collected by us 

 as well as by subsequent explorers, and the question has been agitated 

 whether it may not be also a form of P. ponderosa. The fact is that 

 five-Vrived forms of this species do occur on the Californian Sierras 



