PINACEiE 131 



The wood is used in its ;iative country for lumber to some extent, 

 but its principal use is for paper pulp. 



As indicated above, it has little value in the British Isles as 

 an ornamental tree ; there is, however, a fine tree at Fota which 

 in March, 1922, was 50 ft. high and 2 ft. 10 in. in girth. 



Abies sibirica, Ledebour. 

 Siberian Fir. 



Abies hcterophylla, C. Koch ; A. riclita, FoiIjcs ; A. Semenonii, 

 Fedtsclicnko ; Picea Piclita, Loudon ; Piiius Piclita, KiKlIicher ; Piuus 

 sibirica, Turczaninow. 



A tree rarely more than 100 ft. high, with a slender trunk. 

 Bark smooth, grey, with numerous resin blisters. Young shoots 

 silvery grey, with a scattered minute down. Winter hiids small, 

 globose, resinous, Leaves arranged like those of A. Veitchii but 

 more irregular, those on the upper side of the shoot pointing for- 

 wards, those on the lower side of the shoot horizontal, and longer 

 than those on the upper side ; slender like those oiA. sachalinensis , 

 about 1 \ in. long, ..,'„ in. wide, apex rounded ; upper surface grass- 

 green, shining, grooved, occasionally with two or three short 

 lines of stomata near the apex ; lower surface with two narrow 

 greyish bands of stomata each of 4-5 lines ; resin canals median. 

 Cones cylindrical, 2-3 in. long by 1| in. in diameter, bluish when 

 growing, brown when mature, with the bracts concealed ; scales 

 fan-shaped, f-| in. wide, | in. long ; bracts tf in. broad with a 

 short point. Seed-iving about f in. long. 



A. sibirica forms vast forests in N. and E. Russia, Siberia, 

 the Altai Mountains, and Turkestan, whilst it has recently been 

 discovered by Wilson in W. China. It is the most widely dis- 

 tributed of all the silver firs. According to Loudon it w^as 

 introduced into cultivation in 1820, but it has never thriven and 

 hardly any trees are recorded in Britain. It is more suitable for 

 the colder than for the warmer parts of the country. 



The best quahty timber is suitable for the same purposes 

 as the wood of A. pectinata, but it is probable that a great deal 

 will be turned into pulp at a later period. 



Elwes and Henry, loc. cit. iv, 758 (1909). 



Abies squamata, Masters. 



A tree 50-120 ft. high in China, with shaggy, purplish -brown 

 bark which exfoliates in thin papery layers like that of a birch. 

 Young shoots blackish, hairy. Leaves dense, relatively short and 

 broad, |-1 in. long, curved, pointed or blunt at the apex ; resin 

 canals median. Cones oblong-ovoid, violet in colour, bracts 

 exserted with recurved points which speedily break off. 



Young plants m cultivation have stout, conspicuously bright 



