Illustrations of Conifers. 11 



ABIES CONCOLOR (Lindley and Gordon). 



Gardeners' Chronicle, Vol. VIII. p. 748 (1890) with fig. 



Veitch's Man. Conif. ed. 2, p. 501 (1900). 



Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. IV. p. 777 (1909). 



THIS fir attains in America a height of 100 feet or more with a 

 maximum girth of 9 feet. Bark of old trees fissured. Buds large, 

 broadly conical, resinous. Branchlets yellowish-green, minutely pubes- 

 cent. 



Leaves irregularly arranged, most of them curving upwards ; those 

 above shorter than those below ; 2 to 3 inches long, one-twelfth inch 

 broad, glaucous on both surfaces with lines of stomata, linear, flat- 

 tened, slightly tapering at the base ; apex acute or rounded but 

 not notched. 



Cones 3 to 5 inches long, by 1J inch in diameter, cylindrical, 

 greenish or purple when growing, but becoming brown when mature ; 

 scales much broader than long, about 1 inch wide by i inch long. 

 Bracts concealed, minutely mucronate ; seed with wing about f inch 

 long. 



Abies concolor was discovered by Fendler near Santa Fd in 1847, 

 but does not seem to have been introduced into cultivation until 

 about 1873. It grows wild in the Rocky Mountains of southern 

 Colorado and extends southwards over the mountains of New Mexico 

 and Arizona into northern Mexico ; it also occurs in Utah and in 

 the extreme south of California. 



Sargent and other American botanists consider this and Abies 

 Lowiana to be forms of one species but they are certainly distinct 

 in cultivation. A. concolor has large buds and leaves entire at the 

 apex. A. Lowiana has smaller buds and leaves bifid at the apex. 

 The arrangement of the leaves is also quite different in the two 

 species. The cones' are similar ; but in the cultivated specimens of 

 A. concolor the immature cones are violet with a peculiar iridescence 

 and are remarkably sweet-scented. 



The Bayfordbury specimen is 24 feet high, and was planted in 

 1840. The cone photographed represents a specimen produced by 

 that tree. 



