CONIFERJE. 



SILVA OF NORTE AMERICA. 



101 



Ahies nohilis at the north, replaced southward by Abies magnifica, 

 Abies grandis at the north replaced by Abies concolor at the south, 

 and Abies amaUlis and Abies lasiocarpa, extending down from the 

 Columbia nearly to the southern end of the range. 



^8 Saporta, Origine Paleontologique des Arbres, 77. 



" Practically nothing is known of the insects which probably 

 dwell upon the different species of Abies in the western part of 

 America, and those which infest the eastern, Abies lalsamea and 

 Abies Fraseri, have been little studied. Many of the borers which 

 attack Pinus and Picea also infest Abies, but no species peculiar to 

 these trees has been reported. Nearly all the species of saw-flies, 

 moths, and other insects which attack the foliage of Picea are also 

 to be found on Abies, although a few species may be peculiar to 

 Fir-trees. Various species of scale-insects are sometimes found on 

 Abies, and a mite of the group Aerina commonly occurs on the 

 young twigs, arresting the growth of the leaves and twisting and 

 distorting them. 



In England a woolly Aphis causes gouty swellings upon the 

 leading and other shoots of ^5zes nobilis, Abies amabilis, and other 

 Fir-trees, preventing the formation of leaders and eventually killing 

 the trees. (See Masters, Gard. Chron. n. ser. xviii. 1091, f. 19, 20.) 

 On the island of Mt. Desert, off the coast of Maine, Abies balsamea 

 was attacked about a dozen years ago in a similar manner, and 

 hundreds of trees were killed. 



2*> The most striking fungus which infests Abies balsamea^ the 

 northeastern representative of the genus, is JEcidium elatinum, Al- 

 bertini & Schweinitz, a rust which is common in cold and wet 

 regions, especially in the mountainous districts from Newfoundland 

 to Michigan, and southward to the mountains of North Carolina. 

 Of all the so-called hexen-besen, or witches-brooms, sometimes 

 called birds-nest distortions, those caused by this fungus are the 

 largest that occur in the United States, being at times three feet 

 high and three feet or more in circumference. On the affected 

 branches is formed a node from which arise vertical dense tufts of 

 fasciculated branches, so that the distortions which can be seen 

 from a considerable distance look like small trees attached to the 

 branches. In May and early June the branches are paler and 

 more succulent, and the leaves are shorter and stouter than normal 

 leaves, and show the yellow spots due to the spores of the fungus. 

 Later in the season the spots disappear, the leaves shrivel, and the 

 stems darken, although they last several years and produce suc- 

 cessive crops of spores. This fungus has a very wide distribution, 

 being common In Europe on Abies Picea and some other species, 

 and extends to Siberia and Japan. 



Another rust, Peridennium balsameum, Peck, is common on the 

 under side of the leaves of Abies balsamea, especially in the moun- 

 tainous regions of New England and New York. The cluster-cups 

 of this species are small and short, the spores are nearly white, 

 and no noticeable distortion is produced. The fungus, therefore, 

 is not easily seen except by a practiced eye, although ultimately 

 the affected leaves become pale-colored. Beside the rust fungi, 

 several peculiar small species attack the leaves and stems of Abies 

 balsameaj es-pec\a.\ly Nectria balsamea, Cooke & ^eck, A sierina nuda. 

 Peck, and Meliola balsamicola, Peck. Fusisporium Berenice, Berkeley 

 & Curtis, the pycnidlal condition of some Discomycete, forms slate- 

 colored cups with a thin raised margin on the smaller branches, 

 while the trunks are often covered by the orange-colored cups of 

 Dasyscypha Agasdzii, Saccardo, which seems to prefer this tree to 

 any other, although It is found on other conifers. 



The European Abies Picea is attacked by many species of fungi, 

 including a number of small species recently described by Vuille- 

 min {Bull Soc. Mycol xii. 33). The parasites of Abies Fraseri 



have not been well studied, but this tree is attacked by Peziza 

 croceaj Schweinitz, and Trichosphcm.a parasitica, R. Hartig. 



Little is known of the fungal enemies of the Abies of western 

 America. 



^1 Abies Momi, Siehold, Verhand. Bat. Genoot. Konst. Wet. xii. 26 

 (1830). — K. Koch, Dendr. ii. pt. ii. 227. 



Abies Jirma, Siehold & Zuccarini, Fl. Jap, ii. 15, t. 107 

 (1842). — Carri^re, Traite Conif. 212. — A. Murray, The Pines 

 and Firs of Japan, 53 (excl. Abies liomolepis), f. 96-115. — 

 Miquel, Ann, Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. iii. 166 (Prol. Fl. Jap.). — 

 Bertrand, A nn. Set. Nat. sdr. 5, xx. 95. — Franchet & Savatier, 

 Enum. PI. Jap. i. 467. — Masters, Gard. Chron. n. ser. xii. 

 198; Jour. Linn. Soc. xviii. 514 (Conifers of Japan). — Mayr, 

 Monog. Abiet. Jap. 31, t. 1, f. 1. — Beissner, Bandh Nadelh. 

 450, f . 123. 



Abies bifida, Siehold & Zuccarini, /. c. 18, t. 109 (1842).— 

 Carri^re, I. c. 214. — Bertrand, I. c. 



Pinus frma, Antoine, Conif. 70, t. 27 bis. (1840-1847).— 

 Endlicher, Syn. Conif 99. — Parlatore, De Candolle Prodr. xvi. 

 pt. ii. 424 (excl. syn.). — W. R. M'Nab, Proc. R. Irish Acad. 

 ser. ii. 686, t. 47, f. 14 (excl. syn, Pinus brachyphylla). 



Pinus bifida, Antoine, I. c. 79, t. 31, f. 2 (1840-47). — End- 

 licher, I. c 101. 



Picea firma, Gordon, Pinetum, 147 (1858). — A. Murray, Proc. 

 R, Hart. Soc. ii. 351, f. 63-81. 



Picea firma, var. B, A. Murray, I. c, 409 (1862). 

 Abies firma, var. bifida, Masters, Gard. Chron. n. ser. xii. 199 

 (1879); Jour. Linn. Soc. xviii. 514 {Conifers of Japan). 

 Pinus bifida, W. K. M'Nab, I. c. 688, t. 47, f. 15 (1877), 

 Alnes umbellata, Mayr, I, c. 34, t. 1, f. 2 (1890). 

 Abies Momi, the largest of the Japanese Fir-trees and an inhab- 

 itant of the mountains of southern Hondo, where it is said to be 

 abundant in the forests of deciduous-leaved trees, is the species 

 best known to the JapanesOp furnishing them with the Fir-wood of 

 commerce and one of the chief ornaments of their parks. The 

 Momi has usually proved disappointing in the United States and 

 Europe, where, although it is hardy enough, it early becomes thin 

 and ragged, but the Momis in the temple gardens of Tokyo, often 

 one hundred and twenty feet in height, with tall clean trunks from 

 four to six feet in diameter and dense dark pyramidal crowns of 

 rigid lustrous acute or bifid leaves, are certainly not surpassed in 

 beauty by any other Fir-trees which men have planted. (See Sar- 

 gent, Forest Fl. Jap. 82.) 



22 Abies Veitchi, Lindley, Gard. Chron. 1861, 23. — A. Murray, 

 The Pines and Firs of Japan, 39, f . 69-79. — Gordon, I. c. Suppl 

 56. — Carrifere, Traite Conif. ed. 2, 309. — K. Koch, I. c. 228.— 

 Bertrand, I. c. — Franchet & Savatier, I. c. 468. — Masters, Gard, 

 Chron. n. ser. xiii. 275, f. 50, 51; Jour, Linn. Soc. xviii. 515, t. 20 

 (Conifers of Japan). — Mayr, I. c. 38, t. 2, f. 4. — Beissner, I. c. 



457, f. 125, 126. 



Picea Veitchi, A. Murray, Proc. R. Bort. Soc. ii. 347, f. 52-62 



(1862). 



Pinus selenolepis, Parlatore, I. c. 427 (1868). 



Pinus Veitchi, W. R. M'Nab, I. c. 686, t. 47, f. 13 (1877). 



Abies Eichleri, Lauche, Berlin Gartenzeit. i. 63, f, (1882). — 

 Hemsley, Gard. Chron. n. ser. xvii. 145. — Bolle, Garden and 

 Forest, iii. 434. 



Abies Veitchi, which is the prevailing tree in a forest belt be- 

 tween elevations of seven thousand and eight thousand feet above 



r 



the sea on Mt. Fusi-san, appears to be of very local distribution in 

 Japan, and is probably a northern tree finding its most southerly 

 home only on the highest mountains of the empire, a little known 



