i88 po ste I 6 ta 



highest mountains. Near the sea it often forms 

 groves of almost pure growth, tlie trees standing 

 close together, and having very tall slender 

 trunks, a1)out a meter in diameter at the base, 

 and often unljranched up to a height of thirty 

 meters or more. At an altitude of three thou- 

 sand feet it is a comparatively small tree often 

 clothed with branches to the base. The bark 

 of young trees is thin, very smooth and almost 

 white, witli numerous balsam blisters. In old 

 trees it is apt to become thickened, dark and 

 somewhat rough. The foliage appears very 

 different on the u])])er and lower branches of 

 tlie tree. Except on fertile and leading shoots 

 tlie leaves are twisted into a somewhat two- 

 ranked arrangement. The leaves on the under 

 side of the twigs spread laterally, exposing the 

 lower side of the stem. On the lower branches 

 the leaves along the upper side of the twig are 

 small and a])])ressed, so that the spray appears 

 flat. On the upper branches, however, the 

 leaves along the upper side of the twig are long 

 and spreading and the spray is bushy and semi- 

 circular in section. The leaves are very per- 



