Illustrations of Conifers. 19 



ABIES NOBILIS (Lindley}. 



Gardeners' Chronicle, Vol. XXIV. p. 652 (1885), with fig. 



Veitch's Man. Conif. ed. 2, p. 521 (1900). 



Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. IV. p. 786 (1909). 



A TREE attaining in America a height of 150 to 250 feet and often 

 24 feet in girth. Bark smooth at first, becoming reddish-brown in 

 old trees, and deeply divided by broad flat ridges. Cultivated speci- 

 mens have the trunks frequently marked by large resinous blisters. 



Young branchlets clothed with a rusty-brown pubescence. Buds 

 resembling those of A. magnified. Leaves closely set, those below 

 spreading outwards in two lateral sets ; the middle ones above com- 

 pletely covering the shoot, appressed to the stem for a short distance 

 at their bases and then curving upwards, up to 1J inch long, linear, 

 flattened, rounded and entire at the apex, grooved above ; dull, bluish- 

 green with bands of stomata on the lower surface. 



Cones very large, cylindrical, but narrowing slightly upwards, 6 - 10 

 inches long by 3 - 4 inches in diameter in cultivated trees, but only 

 about half this size in wild specimens ; purplish-brown, with green bracts 

 when growing, the bracts becoming brown as the cone ripens. Scales 

 triangular with an awl-shaped claw, bracts longer than the scales, 

 strongly reflexed. Seed about J inch in length with a wing con- 

 siderably longer. 



Abies nobilis, which was discovered near the Grand Rapids of the 

 Columbia River in 1825 by David Douglas, forms large forests along the 

 slopes of the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon, with a 

 vertical range of 2,500 to 5,000 feet elevation. It also occurs on the 

 coast ranges of Washington and the Siskiyou Mountains of California. 

 The wood is strong and durable and is used generally for constructive 

 purposes. 



This is one of our most ornamental firs, and the many fine speci- 

 mens in cultivation show its adaptability to the English climate. It 

 was introduced about 1830. 



There are two good specimens at Bayfordbury measuring respec- 

 tively 58 feet by 5 feet 9 inches and 64 feet by 5 feet 8 inches. The 

 latter tree belongs to the variety glauca. Both were planted in 1845. 

 The cone photographed was obtained from a young tree at Eastnor 

 Castle in 1908. 



