122 ABIES 



Cones 3^ to 5 ins. long, i to 2 ins. wide, brown ; bracts exposed and not 

 reflexed. 



Native of Japan ; introduced to England by John Gould Veitch in 1861. 

 Sargent describes wild trees as the most beautiful of Japanese firs. The leaves 

 are not invariably notched at the apex, and the notch is deepest in young 

 plants. It is comparatively rare in gardens, but according to Elwes a tree at 

 Pencarrow was 59 ft. high in 1908. It is a handsome tree with a very sturdy 

 aspect. 



A. FRASERI, Poiret. ERASER'S BALSAM FIR. 



(Garden and Forest, 1889, fig. 132.) 



A tree 30 to 40, occasionally 70, ft. high ; young shoots covered with short 

 reddish hairs ; buds small, resinous. Leaves amongst the shortest in firs, \ 

 to i in. long, ^ to ^ in. wide ; rounded and usually notched at the apex"; 

 dark glossy green above, with two broad, very white bands beneath, each 

 composed of six to twelve rows of stomata. Cones i| to i\ ins. long, i to i^ 

 ins. wide, purple ; bracts golden brown, much protruded, and bent downwards 

 so as to hide the scales. 



Native of the mountains of the S.E. United States, often forming forests 

 at elevations of 4000 to 6000 ft. It was introduced by John Fraser, after whom 

 it was named, about 1807. No silver fir ever introduced has proved of less value 

 in English gardens than this, or shorter-lived ; there is perhaps scarcely a good 

 tree in the country. Most of the trees called " Fraseri " in gardens are really 

 A. balsamea, a nearly allied fir distinct enough in the bracts of the cones being 

 very little or not at all protruded, but very similar in the leaves. In A. 

 balsamea, however, they are not so white beneath, and have only four to eight 

 lines of stomata in each band. 



A. GRANDIS, Lindley. GlANT FIR. 



A tree 230 to 300 ft. high in nature, with a trunk 4 to 5 ft. thick ; young 

 shoots glossy, olive green, not corrugated, minutely downy ; winter-buds small, 

 conical, resinous, bluish. Leaves in two opposite sets, spreading flatly and 

 horizontally, each set composed of two ranks, the upper ones much shorter than 

 the lower ; the leaves are f to 25- ins. long, ^ to ^ in. wide ; the apex notched 

 and rounded ; dark shining green, with two broad white stomatic bands 

 beneath. Cones cylindrical, 3 to 4 ins. long, \\ to if ins. wide, bright green ; 

 the bracts enclosed. 



Native of Western N. America, from Vancouver Island to California ; 

 discovered by Douglas in 1825, and introduced six or seven years later. This, 

 probably the tallest silver fir in the world, thrives exceedingly well in the 

 moister parts of the British Isles, where it is already over 100 ft. high. In 

 deep moist soil it grows vry quickly, often at a rate of 2 to 3 ft. annually. 

 Very distinct in the flat, comb-like arrangement of the leaves, it is in this 

 respect most nearly approached by A. Lowiana, but that species has stomatic 

 lines on the upper surface, absent in A. grandis. 



A. LOWIANA, A. Murray. Low's SILVER FIR. 



(Gardeners' Chronicle, 1890, ii., figs. 149, 150 ; A. lasiocarpa, Hart.") 



Neither Sargent nor Jepson distinguishes this fir specifically from A. con- 

 color, but as seen in gardens it is easily recognisable. It has also a separate 

 natural habitat, being found in Oregon, and on the Sierra Nevada in California 

 (where, Jepson observes, it is one of the four most important forest trees in 



