24 ABIES, OR 



No. 16. Abies Douglasii, Lindley, the Douglas Fir. 

 Syn. Abies Californica, Don. 



Picea Douglasii, Link. 



Pinus Douglasii, Sabine. 



taxifolia, Lambert. 



Tsuga Douglasii, Carriere. 



Abies mucronata, Rafinesque. 



obliquata, Rafinesqu e. 



Leaves solitary, flat, entire, narrow, linear, spreading and 

 irregularly two-rowed ; from one inch to one and a half long, 

 bluntly pointed, bright green above and slightly glaucous, and 

 much paler below. Branches numerous, irregularly placed along 

 the trunk, spreading horizontal, sometimes a little ascending, 

 very twiggy, and nearly flat ; branchlets long, slender, mostly 

 in two rows, and more or less declining. Cones ovate or oblong, 

 terminal at the points of the upper branchlets, solitary, pen- 

 dulous, yellowish brown, with many linear, extended, sharp- 

 pointed bracteas, loosely imbricated ; from two to three inches 

 long, and rather more than one inch in diameter. Scales rounded, 

 smooth, leathery, concave, quite entire, thin, and persistent, or 

 not falling off after the seeds are ripe. Bracteas, linear, three- 

 pointed, the middle one much the longest, the two outer ones 

 being very short, membranaceous, but twice as long as the 

 scales, and not reflexed. Seeds very small, with the wings little 

 more than a quarter of an inch long. 



A large conical tree, with smooth bark : when young, full of 

 turpentine ; but when old, with a rugged, grayish-brown bark, 

 from 12 to 14 inches thick, and attaining in its native country, 

 under favourable circumstances, to a height of from 150 to 

 200 feet, and from two to ten feet in diameter. 



The trunk of this Fir for two-thirds of its diameter in the 

 centre presents a reddish colour, and yields but little resin or 

 turpentine, but excellent timber ; while the remainder or outer 

 part is white, porous, tough, and not very durable. 



It is called " Sas-coo-pas " and " Paps" by the Indians along 



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