^BIETJA DOUGLASH. 479 



var. Stand Jshii. 



A remarkable variety, raised from English-grown seed gathered from ;L 

 Douglas Fir standing in close proximity to sonic large Silver Firs. It lias 

 the habit and general aspect of the species, but the leaves are larger, 

 deeper green above and quite silvery beneath, like those of a Silver Fir.* 



A. Douglasii Stamlishii. Abies Douglasii Standishii, Gordon, Pinet. ed. II. 26 

 Pseudotsuga Douglasii Standishii, Masters in Journ. R. Hort. Soc. XIV. 245. 



var. taxifolia 



A smaller tree with shorter branches more regularly developed and 

 giving the tree a more contracted conical outline than the common 

 form. The leaves are longer and usually darker in colour. 



A. Douglasii taxifolia. Pseudotsuga Douglasii taxifolia. Carriere Traite Conif 

 ed. II. Beissner, Nadelholzk. 418. 



The varieties described above are the most distinct deviations from 



the Oregon type of Aldetia Dowjlasii yet observed. With the exception 



of itta'-rorarpa, they are all occasionally met with in British gardens. 



Other varieties selected from the seed beds have been named argente-a, 



brerifolia, ronqht'-ta, vtei/ans, fastif/iata, /it'mstrosa, nana, strida, names 



sufficiently indicative of their most obvious characteristic so long as 



they retain it. Stairii is a variety with light golden yellow foliage 



that originated many years ago at Castle Kennedy in Wigtownshire, the 



seat of the Earl of Stair, and is still propagated in Scottish nurseries. 



Abietia Dot'fjlasii is the most widely distributed tiee of western 



North America ; its distribution is comparable in some respects with 



that of Piiias poiiderosa, but the area over which it is spread is 



considerably greater, especially in a meridional direction. With the 



exception of the lowland plains and valleys of southern British 



Columbia, Washington and Oregon where it forms dense forests, it 



is mostly a tree of the mountains. Its northern limit is placed at 



about lat. 55 near Lake Tacla in British Columbia; from this point 



it follows the Rocky Mountains system southwards through the whole 



breadth of the United States to western Texas and thence into 



Mexico for several hundred miles, its southern limit, so far as at 



present known, being near the city of San Luis Potosi, just within 



the northern tropic. In the coast region including Vancouver Island, 



it spreads from the Skeena river southwards through the Pacific 



States to the Santa Lucia in south California. In the territory 



lying between the Rocky Mountains and the coast ranges it follows 



the general trend of the Cascade mountains and the Sierra Nevada 



as far as the latitude of Los Angeles, reappearing in isolated groups 



on the San Bernardino, the San Jacinto and other ranges in the 



extreme south of California. In the dry region east of the 



California!! mountains it grows chiefly on rocky slopes usually mixed 



with other trees. Its vertical range varies with the climate and 



* Known only from a single tree in the Pinetnm of the late Mr. J. D. Bassett at Leigh ton 

 Bu/zard. 



