Abies 809 



mountains of northern Guatemala (lat. 15 ), where it was observed by Hartweg 1 and 

 collected by Skinner. It is known to the natives as Oyamel, and occurs mainly in 

 forests at 8000 to 10,000 feet, though it occasionally descends to 4000 feet. It 

 apparently reaches its best development on the Campanario, the highest point of 

 the mountains of Angangueo, a range about 100 miles west of the city of Mexico. 

 Here Hartweg found trees 150 feet in height and 5 to 6 feet in diameter. Parry and 

 Palmer collected it in the province of San Luis Potosi in Central Mexico, and gave 

 its range as from 6000 to 8000 feet. Linden found it on the peak of Orizaba, inland 

 from Vera Cruz, growing between 9000 and 10,000 feet elevation. 



Stahl, in Karsten and Schenk's Vegetationsbilder, 2 Reihe, Heft 3, gives a good 

 account of this tree, which he found growing near Orizaba between 2600 and 3500 

 metres above sea-level, and in the higher mountains round the valley of Mexico, 

 in pure forests or mixed with pines, oaks, and alders. He gives no dimensions, and 

 the two excellent figures 17 and 18 taken in the Sierra de Ajusco, near Salazar, at 

 about 9500 feet, show the trees to be smaller there than those which Elwes saw on 

 Popocatapetl. 2 



Dr. Gadow 8 found it growing in the mountains of Omiltelme, at 8000 feet ; and 

 describes the trees as " veritable giants, from 5 to 6 feet in diameter, as straight as a 

 mast, and may be 100 feet high." 



Humboldt supposed that there were two species, one with glabrous and the 

 other with pubescent branchlets ; but Seemann and Hartweg were convinced that 

 this distinction is unfounded ; and the type specimen of Pinus religiosa, the supposed 

 glabrous form, according to Bolle, has pubescent branchlets. 



The branches of the tree, which are very elegant, are used in Mexico for 

 decorating churches at the times of religious festivals. 



This species was discovered in 1799 by Humboldt, who saw it near the city of 

 Mexico in two localities, at 4000 feet elevation between Masantla and Chilpantzingo, 

 and near El Guardia at 8400 feet. It was introduced into cultivation in 1838 by 

 Hartweg, who collected for the Horticultural Society of London. 



Remarkable Trees 



Abies religiosa is tender and will not live, except in the warmer parts of these 

 islands, close to the sea coast, where the temperature never falls much below freezing 

 point. Trees planted long ago at Kew and Bayfordbury, do not now survive. 

 Murray mentions 4 in 1876 specimens growing at Woodstock in Kilkenny, Highnam 



1 Trans. Hart. Soc. Hi. 123, 138 (1848). 



2 I believe that this was the silver fir which clothes the lower slopes of the volcano of Popocatepetl, in Mexico, which I 

 ascended to the limit of vegetation, about 13,000 feet, in March 1888, with my wife and Mr. F. D. Godman. The trees 

 formed in some places dense forests at an elevation of 9000 to 10,000 feet, but though my recollection is that they grew to a 

 great size, we took no measurements, being at the time engaged in collecting birds and insects. In the dry volcanic soil in 

 which they grow we found abundantly Pinguicula rosea, one of the most charming ornaments of our greenhouses ; and higher 

 up lupins and pentstemons were the most conspicuous plants. (H. J. E.) 



3 Through Southern Mexico, 378 (1908). 

 * Gard. Chron. v. 560 (1876). 



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