Abies 793 



Var. shastensis, Lemmon, West. Amer. Cone-bearers, 62 (1895) ; Sargent, Silva 

 N. Amer. xii. 138, t. 620 (1898), and Trees N. Amer. 67 (1905). 



Var. xanthocarpa, Lemmon, Third Report, ex Masters, Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. xiv. 193 (1892), 



and Gard. Chron. xli. 114, figs. 51, 52, 53 (1907). 

 Abies shastensis, Lemmon, Garden and Forest, x. 184 (1897); Coville, Garden and Forest, x. 



516(1897). 

 Abies nobilis robusta, Masters, Gard. Chron. xxiv. 652, f. 147 (1885) (not Carriere). 

 Abies nobilis, Lindley, var. magnifica, Masters, Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xxii. 193, PI. 5 (1886). 



This differs from the type only in the cones, which have much longer bracts, 

 yellow in colour, rounded or obtusely pointed (not acute), exserted, usually reflexed, 

 and covering about half the outer surface of the scales.' 



This variety, which is known as the Shasta Fir, occurs on the mountains of 

 southern Oregon, in the cross and coast ranges of northern California and on the 

 southern Sierra Nevada. In Oregon it is met with in the lower parts of the 

 mountains ; but in the other localities it only occurs at very high elevations. 



It is rare in cultivation in England, or at any rate has been rarely 

 noticed. A tree at the Cranston Nursery, near Hereford, produced cones 1 of this 

 kind in 1878, which were figured 2 by Dr. Masters. Another is growing at Durris 

 Castle, Aberdeenshire, where Mr. Crozier states that intermediate forms between 

 this and A. nobilis exist. 



Identification 



This species is only liable to be confused with A. nobilis ; but in large trees, as 

 seen in cultivation, the difference in habit between the two species is remarkable. 

 The formal arrangement of the branches in A. magnifica, though difficult to describe, 

 when once seen can seldom be mistaken. The differences in the foliage are given in 

 the Key, p. 718. (A. H.) 



Distribution 



The most northerly point at which this tree has been found is on the mountains 

 east of Odell Lake in about lat. 44 N. in southern Oregon, where Dr. Coville 

 collected it in 1897, many miles south of where A. nobilis occurs ; and it is not men- 

 tioned among the trees of the Cascade Forest Reserve, so that it really belongs to 

 the Californian rather than to the North Pacific flora. It becomes common on the 

 Trinity Mountains, and on Mt. Shasta is the only fir besides A. Lowiana. The 

 tree extends along the entire length of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, 

 from 6000 to 9000 feet above the sea, and extends to the eastern slope at high 

 elevations. 



The northern form has been separated by Lemmon under the name of 

 A. shastensis, on account of the bracts which protrude from the scales ; being in this 

 respect, as in its geographical distribution, midway between A. nobilis and A. magnifica ; 



1 Gard. Chron. 1878, p. 343. 

 2 Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot). xxii. 193, plate v. (1886). 

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