173. ABIES CONCOLOK WHITE FIK, SILVER FIR. 53 



about the San Bernardino and adjacent mountains in southern Cali- 

 fornia, growing along the sides of canons from 2,500 to 5,000 ft. ele- 

 vation. Mr. S. B. Parish has observed that it is rarer on the northern 

 slopes and found at a higher elevation, 7,000 ft. on Gold Mountain, 

 than on the southern slopes. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, soft, of medium strength and 

 of a light reddish-brown color, with lighter sap-wood. /Specific 

 Gravity, 0.4563; Percentage of Ash, 0.08; Relative Approximate 

 Fuel Value, 0.4559; Coefficient of Elasticity, 105007; Modulus of 

 Rupture, 846 ; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 463 ; Resistance 

 to Indentation, 102; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 2844. 



USES. Not as valuable a wood as the more generally distributed 

 Douglas Spruce, but useful for general construction purposes. Like 

 the other species, the bark is rich in tannin and valuable for tanning 

 leather. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES, so far as known, are only those of the 

 tannin, in which the bark abounds. 



GENUS ABIES, LINK. 



Leaves sessile, short, solitary, usually more or less flattened and entire, with 

 circular and not prominent bases, often emarginate, more or less two-ranked 

 especially on the horizontal branches and young trees by a twist near the base, 

 bearing stomata usually only below, with two resin ducts ; branchlets smooth, 

 bearing the more or less circular not prominent leaf scars. Flowers from the 

 axils of last year's leaves ; the staminate borne in abundance along the under 

 side of the branchlets, oblong or cylindrical, with short stipes surrounded by 

 numerous bud-scales ; anther-cells two, extrorse, opening transversly, the con- 

 nective terminating in a knob ; pollen grains large with two air sacs ; pistillate 

 flowers erect, with bracts larger than the scales ; ovules two, adnate to the inner 

 side of each scale near the base. Cones erect upon the upper branches and maturing 

 the first year, sessile, nearly cylindrical, with numerous spirally arranged, imbri- 

 cated, carpellary scales, each in the axil of a thin membranous bract which with 

 the scale falls away at maturity from the persistent axis ; seed covered with 

 resin-vesicles and each bearing a membranous wing, the base of which covers 

 the outer and laps over upon the inner surface; cotyledons 4 to 10. 



Trees of about sixteen or eighteen species, generally of remarkable pyramidal 

 growth, confined to the northern hemisphere of both continents and represented 

 in the United States by nine species mostly on the Pacific Slope. (Abies is the 

 ancient Latin name of the Fir.) 



173. ABIES CONCOLOR, PARRY. 

 WHITE FIR, SILVER FIR, BALSAM FIR. 



Ger., Californische Weisse Tanne; Fr., Sapin blanc de Calif ornie; 

 Sp., Abeto bianco de California. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves large, 2 in. long and even 3 in. on vigorous 

 shoots, flat, one line or more in width, two-ranked, obtuse and slightly notched 

 at apex, pale green and with stomata both sides, convex above with slight 



