130 ABIES LASIOCARPA HOOK. AND ITS ALLIES. 



are considerably different from any other species with which I 

 am acquainted. The former are clothed with a dense almost 

 ferruginous down. The leaves, too, are longer than in any other 

 American species." 



Nuttall, in the 3rd volume of the * Sylva,' p. 138, of which 

 I have not been able to ascertain the exact date of publication, 

 refers to this plant as ''? Abies lasiocarpa,'' but adds nothing to 

 what Hooker had said concerning it. 



The type-specimen of Douglas, which furnished the material for 

 Sir William Hooker's description, is preserved in the Herbarium at 

 Kew. Andrew Murray,* in referring to this specimen, says : — " The 

 twig has the leaves arranged as in A. amahilis (grandis of Douglas). 

 The leaf is linear, narrower than in the ordinary specimens of that 

 species and usually terminates m a point, although sometimes a 

 very trifling emargination may be seen. There are a few stomata 

 on the upper side in the middle towards the tip, arranging them- 

 selves somewhat in rows at the part where they are most 

 numerous, and on the under side there are about six rows of 

 stomata on each side of the midi'ib. The stomata are very small ; 

 the leaf is twisted at the base, and the twist is rather long. The 

 scales preserved at Kew are small, but have the lip slightly 

 thickened. The cones, supposing them to be mature, and 

 judging from the size of the scales, cannot have been larger than 

 2-|- in. long and 1^ in. broad. The bract is slightly pedunculate; 

 the stalk about one-third of its length, then expanded into a 

 somewhat rounded plate with slightly jagged edges, from which a 

 slender sharp point projects. The seed is rather more than half an 

 inch in length, including the wing, which is usually thick and 

 opaque, and nearly as broad as it is long, rounded in front, and 

 with a straight back." Murray gives illustrative figures of the 

 leaf, bracts and scales. 



McNabf maintains the distinctness of Hooker's species, though 

 unfortunately he mixes it up with sundry other specimens, which 

 may or may not belong to the same species. Some of these I should 

 be disposed to refer to Abies bi/ulia of Murray ; indeed, they include 

 the type of that species. The anatomical structure of the leaf of 

 the type-specimen is correctly described and figured by McNab, t. 

 46, fig. 7. The leaf-structure, it may be here stated, is essentially 

 the same in all the plants now under consideration, though there 

 are slight modifications of detail. 



Engelmann, who also examined the specimen, surmises that the 

 description of the leaves in the Flora, as being the longest of those 

 of any North-American Abies, " refers to something else, and has 

 certainly given cause for the application of the name to the long- 

 leaved forms of concolor [A. Loiciana), in the English nurseries." 

 But there is no necessity to suppose that Sir William Hooker's 

 description applies to any other tree than the one under considera- 

 tion. The leaves which Hooker described were most probably 



* A. Murray, ' Synonymy of Conifers ' (Journ. Koyal Hort. Soc. London, 

 vol. iii., 1864, reprint, pp. 23 — 24, c. ic. xylog.). 



t Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (1876) ser. 2, vol. ii. p. 682. 



