350 PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



ABIES, Tour, — Fir Tree. 



Evergreen trees and shrubs, with flat, somewhat two-ranked 

 leaves. Flowers moncecious, or male and female on the same 

 plant, but separate ; the male catkins axillary or terminal, the 

 female on very short branchlets. Cones cylindrical, erect, and 

 on the upper side of the branches. The scales of the cones f aU 

 from the axis at maturity, not adhering and falling together as 

 in the Pines and Spruces. Seeds with very thin and somewhat 

 persistent wiugs. 



Abies balsamea, Marshall, — Balsam Fu-, Balm of GUead Fu% — 

 Leaves an inch long, or a little less, narrow and slender, spread- 

 ing, and slightly recurved, dark green above and silvery 

 beneath. Cones three to four inches long, cylindrical. Scales 

 broad, thin, smooth and rounded. Seeds angular, small. A 

 handsome tree when young, but soon loses its lower branches, 

 becoming rather naked and top-heavy, A moderate sized tree, 

 usually growing thirty to forty feet high, but sometimes sixty 

 or seventy. Wood white, soft, and of little value. The liquid 

 resin, known as " Canada Balsam," is obtained from this spe- 

 cies. A common tree in cold, damp soils, from Canada south- 

 ward to Virginia, along the mountains, 



A. braeteata, Nutt. — Leafy-bracted Silver Fir. — Leaves two to 

 three inches long, linear, and crowded in two rows, flat, and 

 somew^hat rigid,. light green above, silvery beneath. Branches 

 in whorls, the lower ones drooping. Cones three or four inches 

 long, and about two in diameter, solitary, with roundish kid- 

 ney-shaped, rigid, and three-lobed bracts ; the middle one 

 nearly two inches long, slender and recurved, especially those 

 near the base of the cone ; the upper ones nearly straight. A 

 slender, but very tall tree, often reaching a hight of one hun- 

 dred feet, and sometimes more. Wood like that of all the firs, 

 and of little value. Found in Oregon, and southward in Cali- 

 fornia, in the Santa Lucia Mountains, at an elevation of from 

 three to six thousand feet, 



A. foncolor, Lindl, — White Fir, Black Balsam, — Leaves two to 

 three inches long, mostly obtuse, but on young trees often 

 long-pointed, two-ranked, pale green, or silvery. Cones ob- 

 long, cylindrical, three to five inches long, and about an inch 

 and a half in diameter, pale green or purplish. Scales twice as 

 broad as high, bracts short, enclosed within the scales ; wing of 

 seed oblique and very persistent. Seeds about three-eighths of 



