ABIES CONCOLOE. 501 



.range at altitudes varying from 4,000 to 6,500 feet, but the precise 



limits of its distribution have not yet been ascertained ; these limits 



may, however, be assumed to be nearly conterminous with those of 



the Cedar of Lebanon with which it is associated wherever met 



with. On the southern slopes of Bulghar Dagh and on the north 



side of Gulleck in Cilicia it forms pure forests of considerable 



extent, becoming mixed at its highest vertical limit with Cedrus Libani 



and in places with Pinus Laricio and Juniper us excelsa, and at its 



lower limit with an undergrowth consisting chiefly of Daphne oleoides, 



and where honeysuckles twine around the stem and mistletoe is 



parasitical on the branches.* It is also known to occur on Berytdah 



and Lebanon in northern Palestine f and it may not improbably be 



found on the coast range connecting these with the Cilician Taurus. 



Abies cilieica was discovered in 1853 by the Austrian botanical 



explorer Theodor Kotschy, by whom it was introduced into European 



gardens. In the following year, seeds of a new species of Abies, 



subsequently proved to be A. cilicica, were received at the Museum 



d'Histoire Naturelle at Paris from the French; Consul at Saida (the 



ancient Sidon), and later, a further supply was brought from the same 



region by a French traveller named Balansa.| All who have seen the 



Cilician Fir in its native home describe it as one of the most 



picturesque of the genus, an encomium confirmed to a great extent by 



the best specimens growing on the Continent and in Great Britain, 



but it is still comparatively rare in this country ; it does not grow 



satisfactorily in the neighbourhood of London nor in the drier climate 



of the midland and eastern counties even where the Cedar of Lebanon 



thrives ; it starts too early into growth after a mild winter and the 



young shoots are often killed by late spring frosts. The best specimens 



known to the author are at Castle Kennedy in Wigtownshire (over 



30 feet high), at Rossdhu in Dumbartonshire and in the Royal 



Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin, Dublin. 



Abies concolor. 



A tall tree but varying greatly in dimensions throughout the 

 extensive area over which it is spread ; in the more humid climate 

 of the California!! Sierras trees are found 200 250 feet high ; in the 

 drier region of Colorado and Utah they rarely exceed 100 feet. Bark 

 of oldest trees in Great Britain fissured into small, irregular, greyish 

 plates with broad interspaces exposing a rough, reddish brown inner 

 cortex. Branches horizontal or slightly depressed ; ramification distichous 

 -find opposite with an occasional adventitious weaker growth beneath 

 the normal pair of branchlets. Bark of branchlets smooth, light-brown, 

 paler and pubescent on the herbaceous shoots. Buds ovoid-conic with 



* Walter Siehe in Gartenflora, 1897, p. 182. 

 t Boissier, Flora Orientalis, V. p. 703. 

 J Carriere in Flore des Serres, Vol. XI. p. 67. 



Very tine specimens of Abies cilicica are reported to be growing at Wellesly, 

 Massachusetts ; on the island of Scharfenberg near Berlin, and Pallanza in Italy. 



