12 Illustrations of Conifers. 



ABIES FIRMA (Siebold and Zuccarini). 



Gardeneri Chronicle, Vol. XII. pp. 198, 199 (1879). 



Veitch's Man, Conif. ed. 2, p. 606 (1900). 



Trent of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. IV. p. 762 (1909). 



A TREE attaining in Japan a height of 150 feet and a girth of 16 

 feet. Bark of trunk soon becoming rough, eventually fissuring into 

 small plates. Branchlets brownish-grey, grooved, with short pubes- 

 cence confined to the grooves. Buds small, ovoid, obtuse, with 

 slightly resinous scales. 



Leaves on lateral branches pectinate, in three to four ranks, 

 those below spreading at right angles to the axis, those on the 

 upper side gradually shortening to a third the length of the lower. 

 Individual leaves up to 1 inch long, linear, flattened, coriaceous, 

 the apex ending in two cartilaginous points ; upper surface dark 

 shining green, grooved; lower surface with two broad bands of 

 stomata. 



Cones cylindric, or conic-cylindric, yellowish-green before ripening, 

 brown when mature, 4 to 5 inches long by 1J to If inch in diameter, 

 with the tips of the bracts visible between the scales which are 

 about an inch wide, transversely reniform, suddenly contracted to a 

 short claw ; bracts linear, spathulate, longer than the scale and ter- 

 minating in an acuminate mucro. 



Mayr states that Abies firma is found wild within the warmer 

 temperate region of Japan lying between the 34th and 36th paral- 

 lels of latitude. In its northern limit it does not ascend higher 

 than 700 feet but in the southern island it ascends to 7,000 feet. 

 It is also largely planted as an ornamental tree ; the timber is of little 

 value. 



This fir was discovered by Thunberg in 1777 and mistaken by 

 him for Abies pectinata. It was first distinguished as a species by 

 Siebold and Zuccarini in 1842 and introduced by J. G. Veitch in 1861. 

 It is not common in cultivation. 



The specimen at Bayfordbury is 31 feet high by 1 foot 10 inches 

 in girth. The cone photographed was grown at High Canons, 

 Herts. 



