The Firs 



toothed margins which turn back over the scales. The wood of 

 this tree is rarely used as lumber. It has the faults of fir wood in 

 general, and the trees are inaccessible to lumbermen. The tree 

 is short lived and has little ornamental value. 



The Balsam Fir (A. lasiocarpa, Nutt.) grows in the high, 

 mountainous regions from Alaska south along the Cascades of 

 Washington and Oregon, and follows the Rocky Mountains from 

 Idaho to Arizona. The trees are tall, narrow spires with thickly 

 crowded branches, the oldest of which droop slightly. They range 

 from 80 to 180 feet high, with trunks 2 to 5 feet in diameter. The 

 bark of the limbs changes from the reddish pubescence of the twigs 

 to pale grey or almost white. Aged trees have shallow-fissured 

 bark covered with cinnamon-coloured scales. 



The blue-green of the leaves is intensified by the striking 

 indigo colour of both kinds of flowers in their season. The cones 

 are rich, deep purple, and plain, tlie broad scales quite concealing 

 the ruddy bracts. 



White Fir {Abies concolor, Lindl. & Gord.) A narrov/ 

 pyramidal tree, 125 to 250 feet high, with trunk 3 to 6 feet through; 

 branches short, stout with long, stout, much-divided side branches 

 extending forward; twigs stout, smooth. Bark 3 to 6 inches 

 thick, broken into rounded ridges by deep, irregular furrows, and 

 the surface into plate-like scales. Wood soft, light, pale brown to 

 white, coarse and weak. Buds globular, \ inch thick. Leaves 

 2-ranked by crowding; erect, pale blue to whitish, becoming dull 

 green when old; on fruiting branches often thickened into a keel 

 above, curved and short; on lower branches flat, straight, 2 to 3 

 inches long. Flowers : pistillate on upper branches, with striking 

 greenish bracts; staminate dark red, on middle limbs. Fruit 

 erect oblong-cylindrical cones, 5 to 6 inches long, green, purple or 

 yellow; scales broad, rounded at apex, concealing bracts; seeds 

 J to ^ inch long with shining red wings. Preferred Jjabiiat, moun- 

 tain slopes. Distribution, Colorado west to Oregon and California, 

 south to New Mexico and Arizona, including the Great Basin. 

 Uses: Wood for butter tubs and boxing. Best of Western firs for 

 planting in the Eastern States. A favourite ornamental in 

 Europe. 



This white fir is known as a silver fir, from the pale foliage 

 and from the grey bark of its branches. The forests of A . magnifica 

 coming down the high slopes meet those of A. concolor coming up. 



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