249. ABIES AMABILIS AMABILIS FIK. RED SILVER FIR. 51 



He has found that its favorite home proves to be "on crag, rocky 

 ridge and slope, although it is also found in canons and along 

 streams," and that it is not on the fog-bathed ridge of the coast moun- 

 tains nearest the sea, but the ridges next within, which have abundant 

 precipitation, but are semi-arid in summer. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. The wood of this species is rather light 

 and hard, coarse grained, with numerous very fine medullary rays, 

 and of a pale yellow -brown color with little distinction in tint between 

 heart and sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.6783; Percentage of Ash, 

 2.04; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.6645; Weight of a Cubio 

 Foot in Pounds, 42.27. 



USES. Although a wood of valuable properties it has never been 

 considered of commercial importance, owing to its inaccessibility and 

 the sparseness of the population in the regions in which it grows. It 

 is worthy of recognition for ornamental planting, and is successfully 

 grown in the milder parts of Great Britain and Europe, though appar- 

 ently not adapted to the climate of eastern United States. 



249. ABIES AMABILIS, FORB. 



AMABILIS FIR. RED SILVER FIR. 



Ger., Holdselige Tanne ; Fr., Sapin aimable ; Sp., Abeto amable. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves flat, deeply grooved and lustrous dark green 

 above, silvery white with broad bands of stomata and midrib prominent beneath, 

 on sterile branches, from f-l| in. long, generally obtuse or rounded and notched 

 at apex, erect and very crowded, those on the upper side of the branchlet much 

 shorter than those of the sides; on fertile branchlets -f in. long, acute, with 

 callous tips; winter buds nearly globose with closely imbricated scales and thickly 

 coated with resin; branchlets stout, finely pubescent and of a reddish brown 

 color. Staminate flowers oblong, ^-f in. long, with slender pedicel nearly \ in. 

 long, anthers red; pistillate flowers oblong-cylindrical, nearly or quite 1 in. long 

 and | in. thick, purple and with lustrous pointed exserted bracts." Cones oblong, 

 from 3| to nearly 6 in. in length and from 2-2% in. thick, rounded or retuse at 

 apex, purple, puberulous, scales 1 in. or slightly more wide at their rounded apex 

 and nearly as long; bracts wholly included, reddish, about half as long as scales, 

 obovate with slender pointed tip; seeds yellowish brown, $ in. long with oblique, 

 cuneate pale brown wings f in. long and nearly as broad. 



The specific name, amabilis, is the Latin tor lovely, and alludes to the impressive 

 beauty of the tree. 



This handsome fir sometimes attains the height of 250 ft. (75 m.) 

 under most favorable circumstances, with a trunk 5 or 6 ft. (1.75 m.) in 

 diameter. The bark when joung is thin, smooth, grayish white, beset 

 with copious resin blisters, and when older becomes checked irregularly 

 into broad scaly ridges. It developes a rather open pyramidal top with 

 gracefully curving lower branches and wide sprays of drooping branch- 

 lets. It is one of the most beautiful of our evergreen trees and is 

 especially so when bearing its large erect purple cones. 



