/ 



CONIFERJE. 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



139 



+ 



upper limits, and below with Pinus contorta and Pinus ponderosa. It is common on the Trinity, 

 Scott, and other cross ranges, and on the high peaks of the coast range of northern California ; ^ on 

 the slopes of Mt. Shasta, at elevations of between six thousand five hundred and eight thousand feet 

 above the sea, it is the principal inhabitant of great forests in which Ahies concolor, its constant 

 companion at low elevations, often appears; southward it extends along the entire length of the western 

 slope of the Sierra Nevada, on which it is the principal tree in the forest belt between elevations of six 

 and nine thousand feet above the sea, sometimes descending in cool shady caSons a thousand feet 

 lower; toward the southern end of the range it ascends to elevations of over ten thousand feet, although 

 above eight thousand five hundred feet, where it attains its largest size on the fine soil of moraines 

 and often forms continuous nearly pure forests, it is scattered and usually of smaller size;^ it is also 

 abundant on the eastern slope of the northern and central parts of the Sierra range at high elevations 

 and on the Washoe Mountains, one of its eastern spurs in Nevada.^ 



The wood of Abies magnijica is light, soft, not strong, comparatively durable in contact with the 

 soil, but difficult to season ; it is light red-brown, with thick somewhat darker sapwood and a satiny 

 surface, and contains broad conspicuous dark-colored bands of small summer cells and numerous thin 

 medullary rays. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.4701, a cubic foot weighing 29.30 

 pounds. It is largely used for fuel, and in California is occasionally manufactured into coarse lumber 

 employed in the construction of cheap buildings and for packing-cases. 



Abies TYiagrvifica was discovered by Fremont in December, 1845, during his second journey to 

 California, probably on the Sierra Nevada.* The variety Shastensis was discovered on Mt. Shasta by 

 Jeffrey in October, 1852.^ Introduced into Europe nearly fifty years ago,*^ Abies magnijica has grown 

 well in many parts of Great Britain "^ and in France and northern Italy ; in the eastern United States it 

 is hardy in sheltered positions as far north as eastern Massachusetts, but, like many other trees of 

 western North America, it gives little promise of long life on the Atlantic seaboard. 



Beautiful in its early years in its symmetrical shape and in its coloring, and massive and superb in 

 its prime, with its tall dark stem and narrow crown, through which the light filters softly to the ground, 

 hardly interrupted by its slender branches and their embracing leaves, the great Red Fir, the noblest of 

 all its race, is a fit associate of the Sequoia, the Sugar Pine, the Yellow Pine, the Libocedrus, and the 

 Douglas Spruce in the forests of the Sierra Nevada which these trees make glorious. 



1 On Snow Mountain in Lalce County, Ahies magnificay var. Shas- 

 tensis, is the most abundant tree above elevations of six thousand 

 feet. (See K. Brandegee, Zoe, iv. 176 [as Ahies nohilis'].) 



2 Muir, The Mountains of California y 173, f. 

 ^ Muir, in litt. 



* Teste Herb. Engelmann, 



* Teste Herb. Engelmann. 



® A hies magnijica is said to have been introduced into England in 

 1851. (See Nicholson, Gard. Diet.) Jeffrey, perhaps, first sent 

 the seeds to England, but probably of the var. Shastensis, as he does 



not appear to have visited the central Sierra Nevada. There was 

 so much confusion, however, about the origin, the true character, 

 and the names of many of the Pacific coast conifers when they 

 were introduced into England, that it is hardly possible to decide 

 who first sent the seeds of this tree to Europe. 



' Ahies magnijica is believed to be one of the hardiest of all the 

 Fir-trees in Great Britain, where there are a number of specimens 

 which, in 1892, were from thirty-five to forty feet in height. (See 

 Dunn, Jour. R. Hort. Soc. xiv. 84.) 



