Abies 747 



Var. equi-Trojant, Guinier and Maire. 1 A peculiar form, discovered by 

 Sintenis on Mount Ida in north-west Anatolia. It has reddish-brown glabrous 

 shoots, leaves acute at the apex and only slightly emarginate, and cones with bracts 

 much exserted and almost concealing the scales. 



The hybrids, which have been obtained between A. Nordmanniana and A. 

 Pinsapo are dealt with in our article on the latter species. 



Distribution 



This species is a native of the mountains in the southern and south-eastern 

 shores of the Black Sea, including the western spurs of the Caucasus. According to 

 Radde, 2 it is entirely absent from the eastern parts of the Caucasus and Talysch, its 

 easterly limit being longitude 42. It usually grows between 3000 and 6600 feet 

 elevation, and either forms pure forests or is associated with Picea orientalis, being 

 occasionally mixed both with that species and Pitius sylvestris. It is said to prefer 

 calcareous soil and to be dominant on the limestone formations, which are not so 

 favourable to the growth of the oriental spruce and the common pine. In pure 

 forests, the trees stand very close together ; and in their deep shade underwood is 

 absent and no light reaches the ground, which is very dry and covered with a thick 

 layer of brown needles. Such forests are the last hiding-place of the European bison 

 in a truly wild condition. 



The largest tree mentioned by Radde, the age of which is not given, grew in the 

 valley of the Labba in the district of Kuban, and measured 213 feet in height and 15 

 feet in girth at breast height, and the stem alone had a volume of 1236 cubic feet. 

 On an area of about z\ acres in this forest fifteen trees nearly as large were 

 growing. It thrives best and attains its largest size at high elevations, 5000 to 

 6000 feet; where stems 150 to 170 feet in height, with a girth of 10 feet, are quite 

 common. The oldest tree, which is recorded by Radde, was 370 years old, and 

 measured 170 feet high by 10 feet in girth. 



Abies Nordmanniana was also found by Balansa 3 in Lazistan, and by Sintenis 8 

 at Kostambul in Paphlagonia. Guinier and Maire 4 in 1904 found it growing on 

 Mount Olympus in Bithynia, where, on the northern slope between 3700 and 

 6000 feet, it forms extensive forests, either pure or mixed with Pinus Laricio, beech, 

 oak, and chestnut, and constituting the timber line at 6300 feet. These botanists 

 state that on Olympus, as well as in the Caucasus, it is a light-demanding tree, a 

 least in the young stage, as the seeds everywhere germinate in open and unshaded 

 places. The discovery by these authors of A. Nordmanniana on Mount Olympus 

 and of the var. equi-Trojani on Mount Ida extends the distribution of this species 

 westwards through northern Asia Minor to the borders of the ^Egean Sea. 



1 In Bull. Soc. Bot. France, lv. 186, fig. I (1908). This variety was referred to A. pectinata by Boissier, in Fl. Orientalis, 

 . 701 (1881). 



2 Pflanzcnvcrb. Kaukasusland, 184, 222, 244, etc. (1899). 3 Specimens in Kew herbarium. 



4 In Bull. Soc. Bot. France, lv. 185, fig. 1 (1908). The silver fir on Mount Olympus was erroneously identified with 

 A. pectinata by Boissier in Flora Orientalis, v. 701 (1881). 



