Postelsia 185 
Bracts of cone oblong-ovate or rhom- 
boidal, gradually narrowed into a 
loner slender tip... €ones very, 
large. Abies amabilis 
Bracts of mature cone longer than the scales, 
exserted, leaves tetragonal or flattened 
and grooved above. Abies nobilis 
Abies lasiocarpa (Hooker) Nuttall, Sylva. 3: 
38. 1849. Balsam Fir. 
A tree with thin, smooth, pale gray bark, 
becoming somewhat thickened and roughened 
with age; leaves crowded, spreading, blue-green, 
flat, grooved above, usually rounded at the apex, 
acute on cone-bearing branches, 1-4 centimeters 
long, stomatiferous on both sides, with resin 
ducts enclosed by the mesophyll; cones purple, 
oblong-cylindrical, 6-10 centimeters long, the 
scales two to three times as long as the erose, 
obtuse or truncate, abruptly acuminate bracts; 
seeds about 5 millimeters long, with broad pur- 
ple wings. Coast mountains of Alaska, east to 
the Rocky Mountains, and south to Oregon, 
Colorado and Arizona. 
This tree has not been reported from Van- 
