ENGELMANN A SYNOPSIS OF THE AMERICAN FIRS. 599 



name, in Dropmore Park as A. amabilis ; but, though now over 40 years 

 old, seems not to have coned yet. In the same establishments another fir 

 is cultivated, in Edinburgh as amabilis, in Dropmore as grandis, thus 

 continuing the confusion which has existed from the first in regard to 

 these names. I suspect this to be the real amabilis of Douglas, but take it 

 for a variety of grandis, which — Douglas' name being doubtful — may be 

 designated as : 



Var. densikolia : Foliage denser than in the species, clustered on the 

 upper side of the branches like that of Nordmanniana ; leaves dark glossy 

 green above, with 2 very conspicuous white bands below; hypoderm cells 

 more crowded under the upper surface of the leaf; cones and seeds the 

 same. — Apparently a mountain form of grandis. from the base of Mount 

 Hood, E. Hall, mixed with subalfina, to British Columbia, Lyall. Doug- 

 las found his amabilis in September, 1825, "on the mountains immediately 

 south of the Grand Rapids of the Columbia," together with A. nobilis; 

 but the cone sent home by him (at that time or later?) was a much larger 

 one, 5-6 inches long, 2^-3 thick, with lanceolate bracts; from its seeds the 

 above-mentioned trees are said to have sprung. Unfortunately the large 

 cone, figured by Lambert as grandis, and by Loudon and in Pinet. Wo- 

 burn, as amabilis, and formerly preserved in the collection of the London 

 Horticultural Society, seems to have been lost since the sale of that collec- 

 tion ; it may have been similar to Newberry's cone of fallax, described 

 above. 



The following species have been claimed for amabilis: A. subalpina 

 is called so by Parlatore 1. c, who seemed to rely on its native local- 

 ity and on its leaves (or many of them) being entire, but overlooks other 

 characters. — Var. fallax of that species, taken for amabilis by New- 

 berry, has a large cone and similar bracts, but is not in cultivation, as 

 Douglas' tree is supposed to be. — A. magnifica, the amabilis of the Cali- 

 fornian botanists, has the large cones, the lanceolate bracts, and the entire 

 leaves, claimed for amabilis ; but the foliage is quite different, and so is 

 its locality. — A. nobilis : Prof. McNab finds the leaves of the type specimen 

 of amabilis in Herb. Kew identical with nobilis leaves; I have examined 

 the same leaves and take them with scarcely a doubt for those of a form of 

 grandis. — A. concolor has been named amabilis in some gardens. — Locally 

 the "yellow fir" of Oregon, as Pseodotsuga Douglasii is often called, 

 seems to have been also taken for amabilis, perhaps on account of its entire 

 leaves. — There remains only the tree which I have designated as A. gran- 

 dis var. densiflora, which, together with grandis itself, is the only western 

 Abies {nobilis excepted) which has sprung from Douglas' Oregon seeds. 

 No subalpina, magnifica or concolor has been in cultivation longer than 

 the modern knowledge of California extends back and the influx of English 

 seed collectors, beginning with Jeffrey in 1851 . None of these species, then, 

 can be Douglas' amabilis, but every consideration points to the tree culti- 

 vated under that name in Edinburgh. Prof. McNab has come to the same 

 conclusion, but differs from me in considering it a distinct species. Fur- 



