54 CONIFERS AND TAXADS OF JAPAN 



ABIES Juss. 



Abies is widely distributed in the temperate regions of the Northern Hem- 

 isphere, especially at high altitudes. In North America Fir trees are found from 

 Labrador and the valley of the Athabasca River to the mountains of North Carolina 

 in the eastern part of the continent, and in the west from Alaska through the 

 Pacific and Rocky Mountain regions to the highlands of Guatemala. In the Old 

 World they range from Siberia, Saghalien and the mountains of central Europe to 

 Formosa, southwestern China, the Himalayas and the highlands of northern Africa. 

 Some 35 species -are now recognized, 10 in North America and 25 in the Old 

 World. Five species are native of Japan; one of these is common to Hokkaido, 

 Saghalien and the Kurile Islands, the other four are found only in Hondo and 

 the southern islands. 



KEY TO THE JAPANESE SPECIES 



Bark on adult trees rough and dark gray; winter-buds large. 



Shoots pubescent on young trees, glabrous or nearly so on adults, shallowly furrowed; 

 winter-buds ovoid or conical, acute, shining gray-brown with little or no resin; 

 leaves bifid and pungent on young trees, lower sterile branches and adventi- 

 tious shoots, with two resin-ducts; on fertile and adult branches obtuse, often 

 emarginate, with four resin-ducts; cone green, bracts exserted ... A. firma. 



Shoots glabrous, deeply furrowed and wrinkled; winter-buds conical, obtuse and resi- 

 nous; leaves rounded and emarginate, those at the ends of shoots often acutish; 

 resin-ducts 2, median, in young plants and adventitious shoots marginal; cone often 

 umbilicate, violet-purple (green invar, umbellata), bracts included . A. homolepis. 

 Bark on adult trees smooth, grayish white; winter-buds small. 



Shoots clothed with rufous-brown pubescence, terete; winter-buds brownish purple, 

 globose; leaves rounded and emarginate; resin-ducts 2, lateral; cone ovoid or 

 somewhat barrel-shaped, violet-purple, bracts included A. Mariesii. 



Shoots more or less clothed with gray or occasionally brownish gray pubescence; 

 winter-buds reddish brown, subglobose to ovoid; leaves truncate and emargi- 

 nate; resin-ducts 2, lateral; cone slender, cylindrical, violet-purple (green in var. 

 olivacea), bracts as long as the cone-scale or slightly longer and reflexed. 



A. Veitchii. 



Shoots more or less clothed with short rufous-gray or gray pubescence; winter-buds 

 bluish, subglobose; leaves rounded and emarginate at the apex; resin-ducts 2, 

 median; cone cylindrical, slightly tapering, greenish purple, bracts longer than 

 the cone-scales (shorter in var. nemorensis), recurved .... A. sachalinensis. 



ABIES FIRMA S. & Z. 



Plates XXXV and XXXVI 



Abies firma Siebold & Zuccarini, Fl. Jap. II. 15, t. 107 (1842). Murray, 

 Pines & Firs Jap. 53, fig. 96-108, 110-112, 115 (1863) . Miquel in Ann. Mus. 

 Lugd.-Bat. III. 166 (1867); Prol. Fl. Jap. 330 (1867). Bertrand in Ann. Sci. Nat. 

 ser. 5, XX. 93 (1874). Franchet & Savatier, Enum. PL Jap. I. 467 (1875). 

 Masters in Gard. Chron. n. ser. XII. 198 (1879); in Jour. Linn. Soc. XVIII. 514 (ex- 

 clude synonyms Abies holophylla and Pinus holophylla) (1881). Mayr, Monog. 

 Abiet. Jap. 31, t. 1, fig. 1 (1890). Sargent, Forest Fl. Jap. 82 (1894). Kent in 

 Veitch, Man. Conif. ed. 2, 506, fig. 130-132 (1900). Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. For. 



