CONIFERS. 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



123 



cross ranges of southern Oregon and northern California, and on the high peaks of the California 

 coast ranges.* With Abies magnifica it forms almost exclusively one of the principal forest belts on 

 the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada four hundred and fifty miles long and in breadth extending 

 from five thousand up to nearly nine thousand feet above the level of the sea.^ It is abundant on all 



^^ r 



the cross ranges that divide the San Joaquin Valley from southern California, and on the San 

 Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains between elevations of four and eight thousand feet above the 

 sea/ and finds its most southerly home on the Pacific coast on Mt. San Pedro Martir in Lower 

 California.* In Oregon, east of the Cascade Mountains, it occurs at an elevation of seven thousand 

 seven hundred feet on the high mountains on the east side of Warner Lake with Piiius ponder osa^ and 

 on the Warner Eange.^ It is common at high elevations on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada, 

 on the high desert ranges of the Great Basin, and in the caSons and on the slopes of the high 

 mountains of Utah and western Colorado ; on the outer ranges of the Rocky Mountains east of the 

 continental divide, it is found only south of the heights which separate the waters of the Platte from 

 those of the Arkansas River, sometimes ascending to elevations of eleven thousand feet above the sea 

 and southward often forming a large part of extensive forests. It is common, too, on the mountains of 

 northern New Mexico and Arizona ^ up to elevations of six thousand feet above the sea-level, but 

 it is less abundant on the mountains on both sides of the boundary between New Mexico and Arizona 

 and Mexico, where it usually grows only in the bottoms of elevated canons. 



The wood of Abies concolor is very light, soft, coarse-grained, and not strong nor durable ; it is 

 very pale brown or sometimes nearly white, with narrow inconspicuous resinous bands of small summer 

 cells and numerous obscure medullary rays. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.3638, 

 a cubic foot weighing 22.67 pounds. It is occasionally manufactured into 

 California is used for packing-cases and butter-tubs. 



Abies concolor was discovered by August Fendler'' near Sante Fe in 1847; in 1851 John 



lumber 



the most northern tributaries of the Mackenzie, and separates the 

 waters of that stream from those of the Santiam, can doubtfully 

 be referred to this species. On the east side of the Cascade 

 Mountains AUes concolor probably ranges at least as far north as 

 the head-waters of the Mitelius River southeast of Mt. Jefferson. 



1 K. Brandegee, Zoe, iv. 176. 



2 Muir, The Mountains of California^ 172, f. 



3 S. B. Parish, Zoe, iv. 352. 

 * Brandegee, Zoe, iv. 210. 



^ Merriam, in Hit. 



6 Merriam, North American Fauna, No. 3, 120. 



^ August Fendler (January, 1813-1883), the son of a carver m 

 wood and ivory, was born in Gumbinniu in eastern Prussia. Los- 

 ing his father in infancy, he was sent to the town gymnasium 

 when twelve years old, and at sixteen was apprenticed to the town 

 clerk. Afterward he learned the trade of a tanner, believing that 

 it would enable him to travel over Europe and America. In 1834 

 Fendler obtained a nomination to the Royal Polytechnic School 

 in Berlin, but was obliged to abandon his studies at the end of 

 the year on account of delicate health, and in 1834 sailed from 

 Bremen for Baltimore, where he arrived with only two dollars in 

 his pocket. For ten years Fendler wandered over the eastern states, 

 maintaining himself by working in tanneries or lamp factories and 

 by teaching school. 



Returning to Prussia in 1844, he made the acquaintance at 

 Konigsberg of Dr. Ernst Meyer, the botanist, who showed him the 

 way to his career of usefulness by pointing out the fact that he 

 could support himself by collecting for sale herbaria of the plants 

 of the western United States. Returning to St. Louis, where he 

 had previously lived for some time, he began collecting plants with 



the advice and assistance of Dr. Engelmann. In 1847 an oppor- 

 tunity was obtained for him to accompany the United States 

 troops, which during the Mexican War took possession of Santa 

 Ed; here he remained during a year, and, after Wislizenus, was 

 the first botanist to investigate the flora of the southern Rocky 

 Mountains. Returning from Mexico, Fendler undertook a botani- 

 cal journey to the region of Salt Lake, but lost his outfit before 

 he reached the Rocky Mountains, and was obliged to go back to 

 St. Louis, where he found that all his possessions had been de- 

 stroyed in a great fire which had devastated the city. He next 

 visited the Isthmus of Panama, making collections in the neighbor- 

 hood of Chagres, and then, returning to the United States, estab- 

 lished himself at Memphis, where for three years he carried on the 

 camphine light business. This became unprofitable owing to the 

 introduction of coal gas, and in 1854, craving new scenes, Fendler 

 sailed for Venezuela, where at Colonia Tovar, at an elevation of 

 six thousand feet above the sea, he remained for five or six years, 

 making large collections of plants which now have a place in the 

 principal herbaria of the United States and Europe. Returning to 

 Missouri in 1864, Fendler cleared in the forest a farm for himself 

 near AUenton. Here he lived for seven years, and then, selling his 

 farm, returned to Prussia with the intention of remaining there. 

 His love of the United States, however, brought hira again across 

 the Atlantic, and in 1876 he settled in Delaware, where he devoted 

 himself to botany, meteorology, to which he had always paid much 

 attention, and to speculative physics, publishing at this time a book 

 entitled, The Mechanics of the Universe. Repeated attacks of acute 

 rheumatism compelled him to seek a warm climate again, and in 

 1877 Fendler landed at Port of Spain, in the island of Trinidad, 

 where he passed the remainder of his days, living mainly on the 



