720 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



ABIES PECTIN AT A, Common Silver Fir 



Abies pectinata, De Candolle, in Lamarck, Flore Franf. iii. 276 (1805); Willkomm, Forstliche Flora, 

 in (1887); Mathieu, Flore Forestiere, 525 (1897); Kent, Veitch's Man. Coni/erce, 530 (1900). 



Abies alba, 1 Miller, Diet. ed. 8, No. 1 (1768); Kirchner, Lebengesch. Bliitenpfl. Mitteleuropas, i. 78 

 (1904). 



Abies vulgaris, Poiret, in Lamarck, Did. vi. 514 (1804). 



Abies Picea, Lindley, Penny Cycl. i. 29 (not Miller) (1833). 



Pinus Picea, Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 1001 (1753). 



Pinus Abies, Du Roi, Obs. Bot. 39 (1771). 



Pinus pectinata, Lamarck, Fl. Franf. ii. 202 (1778). 



Picea pectinata, Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iv. 2329 (1838). 



A tree attaining under favourable conditions about 150 feet in height and 20 

 feet or more in girth. Bark on young trees, smooth, greyish ; ultimately Assuring 

 and becoming rough and scaly. Buds small, ovoid, non-resinous ; scales few, 

 brownish, rounded at the apex. Young shoots grey, smooth, with a scattered short 

 erect pubescence, which is retained in the second year. 



Leaves on lateral branches pectinately arranged in two lateral sets ; those below 

 the longest and directed outwards and slightly forwards in the horizontal plane ; 

 those above directed upwards and outwards, forming between the two sets a shallow 

 V-shaped depression. Leaves about 1 inch long, ^ inch broad, linear, flattened, 

 narrowed at the base, tapering slightly to the rounded, bifid apex ; upper surface 

 dark green, shining, with a continuous median groove and without stomata ; lower 

 surface with two white bands of stomata, each of seven to eight lines ; resin-canals 

 marginal. 



On leading shoots the leaves are radially arranged, and differ considerably from 

 those on lateral branches ; they are thicker, with median resin-canals, acute and not 

 bifid at the apex, and often show lines of stomata on their upper surface towards the 

 tip. Leaves on cone-bearing branches are nearly all directed upwards, very sharp- 

 pointed, and almost tetragonal in section. 



Trees, standing in an isolated position, usually begin to flower at about thirty 

 years old ; when crowded in dense forests, much later, usually not before sixty 

 years old. 



Staminate flowers, surrounded at the base by numerous imbricated scales, 

 cylindrical, about 1 inch long, with greenish - yellow stamens. Female cones, 

 appearing in August of the previous year as large rounded buds, enclosed in brown 

 scales, and situated just behind the apex of the shoot ; in spring, when developed, 

 erect, cone-shaped, about 1 inch long, surrounded at the base by fringed scales ; 

 bracts numerous, imbricated, denticulate, ending in long, acuminate points, and 

 completely concealing the much smaller ovate, rounded ovuliferous scales. 



Abies alba, the oldest name under the correct genus, was never in use until lately, when it has been resuscitated by 

 Sargent and some continental botanists. This is one of the cases where adhesion to strict priority would lead to great con- 

 fusion ; and hence we have adopted the name Abies pectinata, by which the tree is generally known. 



