BOTANY. 47 



Among the many sad things connected with the death of the lamented Douglas, was the loss 

 which botanical science suffered in being deprived of the full exposition which he would have 

 given, had he lived, of the specimens which he collected during his residence in California and 

 Oregon. Of the vast material which was transmitted to England through his industry, much 

 was described by him ; and his notes aud descriptions have constituted a fund from which all 

 have drawn who have had occasion to refer to the subject of the botany of the regions he visited. 

 His descriptions were, however, generally brief, and only preparatory to a more elaborate work 

 to be prepared by himself and others subsequent to his return. His specimens have since been 

 carefully studied by Lindley, Hooter, Lambert, &c, and the published results, as might have 

 been expected from the learning and ability of these botanists, have been of great scientific 

 value, and as full and accurate as they could be in the circumstances. Nothing could compen- 

 sate, however, for the want of his living testimony in reference to the thousand points of 

 inquiry which would arise in the study of his specimens ; and none but himself could correct 

 the ineviiable errors which attended the transport, the packing and unpacking, the handling 

 and examination of his plants. Who that has the care of collections in natural history does 

 not find it almost a daily necessity to replace labels and return erratic fragments to their con- 

 nections? — to do what, if left to other hands, would be so done as to obscure if not falsify facts. 



In speaking of Finns ponderosa, I have alluded to the consequences of the fact that an 

 abnormal and distorted cone was made to stand the sole and unqualified representative of one 

 of the noblest and the most widely distributed of western pines. I think we have evidence 

 that a somewhat similar mistake has occurred in reference to the cones of Picea (Pinus) grandis 

 of Douglas. 



This tree is described (Dougl. & Lamb. Comp. Bot. Mag. II, p. 147) as "a noble tree, akin 

 to P. balsamea, growing from 170 to 200 feet high, with a brown bark ; leaves emarginate at 

 the apex ; cones lateral, solitary, cylindrical, obtuse, very similar to those of P. cedrus, but 

 larger, six inches long, of a chestnut brown color, &c, (Loudon, Arboret, p. 2341.) In the 

 description of P. amabilis (Loud. op. c. p. 234 2) the cones are said to resemble those described 

 as belonging to P. grandis, but to be twice as large as those of P. grandis sent home by 

 Douglas, and botanists have since been unable to distinguish between these two species, and 

 generally regard them as forms of the same. 



In the Cascade mountains, south of the Columbia, near where Douglas procured his speci- 

 mens of P. grandis and P. amabilis, I found two firs growing which must be those designated 

 by Douglas under these names. Of these one was indeed a noble tree which we had first met 

 with in California, where, from its resemblance to P. balsamea, it has been called by the resi- 

 dents, and by several botanists, the balsam fir, and considered identical with the eastern species. 

 It grows very abundantly in the Cascade mountains ; up to and beyond the Columbia it rises to 

 the height of 200 feet ; has emarginate leaves ; cones never more than three inches long, very 

 obtuse, and having a depression at the summit, and resembles those of P. cedrus more than those 

 of any other species. These cones are, however, always green or greenish brown, and never 

 chestnut color ; they are also comparatively free from resin. 



The other tree to which I have referred is very unlike this, never attaining equal size, much 

 more strict and conical in form where both grow in open grounds ; the foliage more dense ; the 

 leaves darker above, more glaucous below, entire, and often acute ; the cones double the size of 

 those of the " balsam fir" of the same region ; elliptical in form, rounded above, dark purple 

 in color, and more resinous. The scales of the cones and bracts relatively much longer. Of 



