ABIES CONCOLOR. 503 



A. concolor van Lowiana, Lemmon, West Anier. Cone Bearers, 64 (1895). 

 A. Lowiana, Murray in Proceed. R. Hort. Soc. III. 317, with fig. (1863). A. grandisj 

 Carriere, Traite Conif. ed. II. 297 (in part). A. grandis var. Lowiana, Masters 

 in Journ. Linn. Soc. XXII 175. Picea Lowiana, Gordon, Pinet. ed. II. 218. 

 P. lasiocarpa, Hort not Hooker. P. Parsonsiana, Hort. 



Abies concolor next to A. lasiocarpa has a more extensive 



geographical range than any of the American Abies whose habitat is 



west of the Rocky Mountains. It occurs on the mountains of New 



Mexico near Santa Fe, where it was first discovered by Fendler in 



1847, and also in the Pike's Peak region in Colorado its eastern 



limit ; it thence spreads westwards along the mountains of Arizona, 



Utah and Nevada to California ; it is common on most of the 



mountain ranges of the last-named State at 3,500 to 8,000 feet 



elevation from the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains 



northwards to southern Oregon its northern limit. Throughout this 



great region Abies concolor can almost always be readily recognised by 



the grey bark of its trunk and the pale colour of its foliage whatever 



may be the altitude and the climatic conditions under which it is 



growing. These conditions vary considerably between the eastern 



and western limits ; on the mountain sides of Colorado the winters 



are as severe as at New York ; on the western slopes of the Sierra 



Nevada at the altitude at which this Fir grows, the climate is not 



very different from that of the midlands of England ; whilst on 



the San Bernardino in south California it approaches that of the 



south of France. Spread over so extensive an area, and growing 



under such diverse conditions it is not surprising that Abies concolor 



should be found to vary in the dimensions of trunk, in the length 



and disposition of the leaves and in the size of the cones, and 



therefore that the tree should have received different names according 



as it was introduced from different localities. The identity of the 



species throughout the region has been satisfactorily established by 



the American botanists who have explored it, and the tangled synonymy 



with which the tree became encumbered and the superfluous names 



still in use in many places should be allowed to sink into oblivion- 



Abies concolor was introduced from the Sierra Nevada of California 



by the Yeitchian Firm at Exeter through William Lobh in 1851, and 



about the same time seeds were sent from southern Oregon to the 



Scottish Oregon Association by their collector John Jeffrey ; * both 



collectors sent their consignments under the name of Abies </ran>!/.< 



The plants raised in the Exeter nursery were distributed tinder the 



name of A. lasiocarpa in the belief that they were the species so 



named by Sir William Hooker ; those raised in the Edinburgh Botanic 



Garden for the Scottish Association were distributed among the memlwrs 



as A. f/randis. In 1857 seeds were received from California by 



Messrs. Low of Clapton, and the plants raised from them were named 



Picea Lowiana by Gordon and were distributed under that name. 



* James McNab in The Garden, Vol. I. p. 464. 



