THE CONIFER/E OF THE SANTA LUCIA MOUNTAINS. 78 



trees are known botanically as Abies bradeata, the rarest existing 

 fir, and confined to a few canons of these mountains. When once 

 seen these trees can be recognized as far as the eye can reach. 

 While there are few individuals, comparatively, the number of small 

 trees coming up in San Miguel Canon assures us that the sj^ecies is 

 in no danger of extermination. 



Mr. E. C. Mansfield and the writer visited this locality May 1 of 

 the present year, to obtain flowering specimens, which had, until 

 then, never been collected. The trees were in full flower; the pollen 

 had begun to float through the air, and near the tops of all large trees 

 female flowers were plainly to be seen. Coulter records that only 

 the middle branches bear cones. This was not so with the trees 

 observed in this caiion. Owing to the great difiiculty experienced 

 by Mr. Mansfield in reaching the topmost boughs and in securing 

 specimens, only a few pistillate flowers were obtained, and these Mr. 

 Mansfield carried down, holding the twigs, to which they were 

 attached, in his mouth, so as to keep them intact on the branches. 

 The specimens are in the Herbarium of the California Academy of 

 Sciences, duplicates having been sent to Prof C. S. Sargent to 

 be represented in the "Silva of North America." The staminate 

 flowers were more abundantly collected, being so much more easily 

 obtained. 



The firs seen in this canon had lost their lower branches, and, 

 therefore, lacked the symmetrical outline from base to summit which 

 the most perfect specimens exhibited. The writer, some years ago, 

 saw two trees in a gulch further north which the Santa Lucia trail 

 crosses, where the lowest branches reached almost to the ground, 

 and the trees tapered to j)erfect cones with long, pointed tops waving 

 plume-like in the breeze. The trunk, at the upper part, sends down 

 long, slender branchlets that droop as do those of the weeping willow 

 or weeping spruce. Even the upper boughs have a tendency to 

 grow downwards, thus rendering the foothold of an adventurous 

 climber somewhat precarious, since the slightest breath of Avind 

 sways the slender upper axis back and forth. 



The mountaineers are all enthusiastic in their admiration of this 

 tree, which they name the "Silver Fir." When the cones have 

 attained full growth they have a purplish hue, and the long, 



