540 ABIES SIBIRICA. 



long and 1'25 inch in diameter, deep violet-blue changing to cinnamon- 

 brown when mature ; scales subtrapeziform, clawed, rounded and 

 obscurely denticulate at the exposed margin ; bracts half as long as 

 the scales. 



Abies sibirica, Ledebour, Fl. alt. IV. 202 (1833). Carriers, Traite Conif. ed. II. 

 302. McNab in Proceed. R. Irish Acad. II. ser 2, 685, tig. 12. Beissner, 

 Nadelholzk, 455. Masters in Journ. R Hort. Soc XIV. 195 



A. pichta, Forbes, Pinet. Woburn, 113, t. 39 (1839). AYillkomm, Forstl. Fl. 

 ed. II. 107. 



Picea pichta, London, Arb. et Frat. Brit. IV. 2338 (1838). Gordon, Pinet. 

 ed. II. 221. 



Pimis sibirica, Parlatore, D. C. Prodi-. XVI. 425 (1868). 



P. pichta, Endlicher, Synops. Conif. 108 (1847). 



Eng. Siberian Silver Fir. Fr. Sapin de la Siberie. Germ. Sibirische Weisstanne. 

 Ital. Abete della Siberia Rnss, Pichta. 



Abies sibirica is the most northern species of the genus, in places 

 spreading as far as the sixty-sixth parallel of north latitude where 

 it is dwarfed to a stunted unshapely bush. It is also distributed 

 over a greater geographical area than any other Abies ; from its 

 western limit in north-east Eussia, in the Government of Archangel, 

 it spreads eastwards through Siberia to Kamtschatka and the Amur 

 region frequently associated with Picea obovata, Pinus sylvestris and 

 Larix dahurica, and forming with them the most extensive coniferous 

 forest on the eastern continent. On the Altai mountains it ascends 

 to 5,000 feet above sea-level, forming immense forests between 

 3,000 and 4,000 feet. The climate of this region is one of the 

 coldest known, the thermometer registering many degrees of frost 

 below zero (Fahr.) every winter ; the seasons too are sharply 

 denned, there being scarcely any spring or autumn to mark the 

 transition from winter to summer and vice versa. In such a 

 climate the Siberian Silver Fir is of the highest economic value 

 to the inhabitants, not only for fuel but for all kinds of 

 constructive purposes, although in quality its wood is inferior to 

 that of the European species, A. pectinata. Those who have seen 

 A. sibirica at its best development describe it as a more slender 

 -and more graceful tree than the Common Silver Fir, and its foliage 

 of a more pleasing shade of green. 



Abies sibirica was introduced into Great Britain about the year 

 1820, but it has failed to adapt itself to our milder climate, and good 

 specimens south of the highlands of Scotland are unknown. In the 

 colder climate of north and east Germany and Scandinavia it is muc 

 cultivated as an ornamental tree, taking the place of those Silver 

 Firs that cannot withstand the severe winters of northern Europe, 

 but it grows slowly, and takes the form of a slender tree with a 

 narrowly pyramidal outline clothed with foliage of the brightest green. 

 Two varieties have been noted : alba (Fischer) from the higher slopes 

 of the Altai mountains, with longer leaves that are more glaucous on 

 the under side ; and eleyans (Beissner) with shorter and stouter 

 leaves and of compact Araucaria-like habit. 



