2IO IP s t e I s i a 



cone. Indeed there is considerably more varia- 

 tion within Ell- Abies than between Pseiidotsuga 

 and the more closely related species of En- Abies. 



Hesperopeiice stands almost intermediate be- 

 tween Picea and Tsuga, and similarly Pseiido- 

 tsuga stands between Tsuga and Abies, but the 

 artificiality of uniting Hesperopeiice and Pseudo- 

 tsuga with Tsuga, as was done by Eichler in 

 Engler and Prantl's Pflanzenfamilien, is seen 

 when the two former sections are compared 

 with one another. There are scarcely two more 

 unlike sections in the entire genus. 



The section Keteleeria, embracing one or 

 more peculiar Chinese trees, stands also in many 

 respects intermediate between Abies and Tsuga, 

 but it differs from all the other sections in its 

 peculiar staminate inflorescence. 



Although the general relationship of the 

 sections seems best expressed by the arrange- 

 ment adopted in the body of this article, with 

 Picea at one extreme and Eu- Abies at the other, 

 there are several peculiar points to be noted. 

 Thus in the form of the pollen grains, Tsuga 

 and Pseudotsuga stand together as contrasted 



