ABIES 



119 



most leaves are the longest, and they spread horizontally ; above them each 

 succeeding rank becomes smaller ,and more erect, leaving at last a very narrow 

 or scarcely perceptible V-shaped opening along the top. Cones 3 to 4 ins. long, 

 i^ to ii ins. wide, tapered at top and bottom, purple, finally brown; bracts 

 quite enclosed. 



Native of Japan ; introduced about 1870. This is one of the most thriving' 

 and handsome of firs, and very hardy. It occasionally bears good crops of its 

 rich purple cones, and is then very beautiful. It is, perhaps, best distinguished 

 by the deeply corrugated branchlets, the grooves in which become deeper the 

 two following years, by the scaly bark of the trunk and the short, notched 



ABIES BRACHYPHYLLA. 



leaves. In gardens a Japanese silver fir is sometimes seen under the 

 name of 



A. HOMOLEPIS, Siebold(k: umbellata, Hort.}.\\. is quite closely allied to, 

 and may be merely a form of, A. brachyphylla, but the leaves are more dis- 

 tinctly separated into two opposed sets, and the. V-shaped opening left by the 

 uppermost leaves is much wider ; they are also longer (up to li ins.), the stomatic 

 bands beneath are narrower and duller white, the apex is much more tapered, 

 and the double points made by the notch are sharp, almost spiny. An interest- 

 ing distinction is pointed out by Henry in the corrugation of the branchlets : in 

 A. homolepis this is less apparent in the second and third years ; in A. brachy- 

 phylla it is more pronounced. A cut branchlet bears a considerable resemblance 

 to that of A. firma, but the downy unroughened surface of the shoot of the 

 latter at once distinguishes it. A. homolepis appears to have all the beauty and 

 hardiness of A. brachyphylla. 



