iste.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



21 



IMaTURAL miSTORY AND ^CIENCE. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



ABIES MACROCARPA— A NEW CONIFEROUS 

 TREE. 



'BY DR. GKO. VASEY, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



In the fall of 1874, Mr. F. M. Ring, of San" 

 Gorgonia Pass, California, sent to the Department 

 of Agriculture some cones and twigs of a conifer- 

 ous tree, of which he desired to know the name. 

 The striking resemblance of the cones to those 

 of Abies Douglasii was very apparent, but their 

 great size and weight were remarkable. I re- 

 quested from ISIr. Ring more detailed information 

 of the characteristic marks of his tree. In reply, 

 under date of Nov. 25th, 1874, he wrote as fol- 

 lows : " The tree in question is called here a fir 

 tree ; it is the first pine tree met with in ascend- 

 ing from the plain to the mountains, growing in 

 the canons of the foot hills, and in this locality 

 is the most common of the evergreens. As you 

 ascend in the mountains it becomes scarce, and 

 is not found higher up than about five thou- 

 sand feet. It attains a large size, from two, to 

 three feet in diameter, and from sixty to eighty 

 feet high ; the usual size, however, is about a 

 foot and a half in diameter, and fifty feet high. 

 Its appearance is peculiar, different from the 

 other pines found with it. This is caused by its 

 manner of growth, the limbs extending straight 

 out from the trunk without bending up or down. 

 It is a fine spreading tree, even when growing 

 thickly together, and I think would make a 

 highly ornamental one if planted singly or in 

 groups in open ground." 



The leaves had all dropped from the twigs sent 

 by Mr. Ring, and as it appeared too late for 

 more specimens that year, I deferred the matter 

 until the coming year. In the meantime the 

 cones were seen by Dr. Gray and Dr. Engelmann. 

 Dr. E. was particularly interested in the matter, 

 and desired more information and specimens. I 

 accordingly applied again to Mr. Ring last sum- 

 mer, and under date of September 14th, 1875, he 

 writes as follows : 



" I have endeavored to find some cones of the 

 fir tree, but have not succeeded so far. This year 



there appear to be very few cones formed ; last 

 year the trees were loaded with them, but now I 

 can find none but the old ones which still hang 

 upon them. The cones that I sent you came off 

 separate trees, and were of the average size ; all 

 the trees of this sort bear cones of about the 

 same size ; there are none intermediate in size as 

 far as I can diijcover. If by the Abies Douglasii 

 you mean the Douglas spruce of the northwest 

 coast, I should say that the tree in question is 

 not the same. It has not the same general ap- 

 pearance, and grows under quite different cir- 

 cumstances. It is not nearly so large as the 

 Douglas spruce, and the branches are much 

 longer in proportion to the height of the tree. 

 The branches appear to me to be singularly long 

 and spreading, in marked contrast with the 

 other cone-bearing trees. The bark of the old 

 trees is quite deeply furrowed ; in the young ones 

 not so much so, but it is never smooth." 



In addition to the information sought for from 

 Mr. Ring, I also instructed Dr. Ed. Palmer, who 

 was making collections in Southern California, 

 to search for the tree, and to get specimens and 

 a section of the trunk. He was successful in 

 finding the tree in San Felipe Canon, in the 

 mountains northeast of San Diego. The section 

 of wood has not yet come to hand, but the speci- 

 mens of twigs and cones have. The twigs seem 

 to be longer and slimmer than those of Abies 

 Douglasii, and the leaves are rather more 

 acutely pointed, but otherwise there is no appa- 

 rent difference. But the cones holdout in entire 

 accordance with those sent by Mr. Ring. They 

 are old cones. Dr. Palmer stating that no new 

 cones were to be found. They are five inches 

 long hj two and one-half inches in diameter, 

 composed of about 60 scales, which in the centre 

 of the cone are one and a half to one and three- 

 fourths inches wide. The bracts can hardly be 

 distinguished from those of Abies Douglasii ex- 

 cept that they do not project so far beyond the 

 scale. The difference in the cones of the two 

 kinds is most strikingly shown by their compara- 

 tive weight. Five average sized cones of the San 

 Gorgonia specimens weighed 202 grammes, equal 



