Illustrations of Conifers. 21 



ABIES NUMIDICA (De Lannoy}. ALGERIAN FIE. 



Gardeners' Chronicle, Vol. III. p. 140 (in part and excluding figures) (1888). 



Veitch's Man. Conif. ed. 2, p, 529 (1900). 



Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. IV. p. 737 (1909). 



A TREE attaining 70 feet in height and 8 feet in girth. Bark grey 

 and smooth in young trees, becoming scaly and fissured with age. 

 Branchlets brown and glabrous. Buds large, ovoid, non-resinous. 



Leaves on lateral branches pectinate below, those above shorter, 

 crowded, directed upwards, with the median leaves on strong shoots 

 directed backwards and covering the upper side of the branchlet. 

 Leaves short and broad, \ to f inch long by one-twelfth inch broad, 

 flattened ; upper surface dark shining green with a few lines of 

 stomata near the apex ; under surface with two white bands of 

 stomata ; apex rounded, entire or bifid. 



Cones cylindric, brownish in colour, 5 inches long by \\ inch in 

 diameter ; scales fan-shaped 1| inch wide by f inch long or smaller 

 in cultivated specimens ; bracts concealed, half to quarter as long 

 as the scale ; seed with wing about an inch long. 



This fir is only known to occur wild in Algeria where it occupies 

 a small area towards the summit of Mount Babor in the Kabylie 

 range at from 5,000 to 6,600 feet altitude. It was discovered in 

 1861 by Captain de Guibert, and introduced into cultivation the 

 following year. 



The Algerian fir is rare in cultivation and was not planted at 

 Bayfordbury until l%i)6. The specimens illustrated were grown at 

 Pampisford, Cambridge. 



