210 THE BOOK OF EVERGREENS. 



The species now under notice is one of the finest of this 

 class of trees, and for a long time was considered by bot- 

 anists as a variety of A. grandis, which belief was 

 strengthened by Nuttall in his N". A. Sylva, where he 

 mentions it as having much larger cones and entire leaves ; 

 and the leaves of A. grandis being somewhat toothed or 

 notched. 



32, A. Cilicica, Carrier e. CILICIAN SILVER FIR. 

 Leaves, from 1 to If inch long, 1 line broad, flat, linear, 

 straight, numerous, mostly distichous, but somewhat irregu- 

 larly scattered around the young shoots, shining dark green 

 above, and glaucous below. Cones, 7 or 8 inches long, 

 almost 2 inches in diameter, cylindrical, obtuse, erect; 

 with closely imbricated, coriaceous, concave, thin scales, 

 entire on the margins ; bracts, small, crenate, shorter than 

 the scales, and terminating in a point. Seeds, slightly 

 triangular, very resinous, with a wedge-shaped wing. 



The Cilician Silver Fir is one of the newer introductions 

 from Asia Minor, and like the A. Apollinis it has received 

 a variety of synonyms and has been assigned to several 

 positions, especially as a variety of our older well-known 

 species. It is found extensively on the Caramanian and 

 Taurian Mountains, where it forms immense forests, fre- 

 quently in company with the Cedar of Lebanon. It gen- 

 erally attains the height of 50 feet, with the branches in 

 whorls, and covered with light gray bark, becoming 

 deeply furrowed with age. 



The form is mostly very conical, with numerous, small, 

 slender branchlets, and dark, glossy green leaves. Gordon 

 says : " M. Kotschy discovered it in one of the valleys of 

 the Taurus to the north-west of the great Cilician defile 

 called G-ullah JBoghos, and on the southern slope of the 

 great mountain chain called Bulgardah, in Cilicia, at an 

 elevation of from 3,000 to 7,000 feet above the level of the ' 

 sea." 



On account of the strong resinous odor emitted from this 



