OF THE WASATCH REGION 



3. ABIES. Fir; Balsam. 



Tall conical trees with horizontal branches. Wood coarse- 

 grained, but sometimes used for lumber. Leaves flattened; 

 alternate and apparently 2-ranked by a twist near the base; 

 sessile and without sterigmata; stomata arranged in 2 longi- 

 tudinal white lines on under side (at least when young). 

 Leaf-scars circular, their axes at right angles to direction of 

 the stem. Cones erect, maturing the first year; their scales 

 thin, breaking away from the persistent axis, and therefore 

 only these scales instead of cones are found under the tree. 

 Seeds winged; cotyledons 4-10. 



Leaves of cone-bearing branches blunt-tipped... 1. A. concolor 

 Leaves of cone-bearing branches sharp-tipped. . 2. A. laslocarpa 



1. A. concolor Lindl. White Fir. Tree 40-150 ft. high and 

 2-4 ft. in diameter. Bark rough, grayish. Leaves more or less 

 curved; their resin-ducts 2, close to the lower epidermis; 8- 

 ranked; their bases conspicuously disk-shaped; with stomata 

 on both surfaces. Cones oblong-cylindrical, 2^-5 inches long 

 by 1-lYz inches wide; green or .sometimes dull-purplish; width 

 of scales nearly twice their length. Tips of bracts visible 

 above the scales. Seed-wings broad; rose-colored; cotyledons 

 5-10. Along streams and on mountain slopes, 7,500-10,000 ft. 

 In flower early in May. 



2. A. laslocarpa (Hook.) Nutt. (A. subalpina Engelm.) 

 Western Balsam Fir. A tree 60-80 ft. high, with bark of trunk 

 ashy-gray and smooth (or that of old trees cracked). Leaves 

 of the vigorous lower branches 1-1% inches long, blunt or 

 notched at the end; those of the cone-bearing branches stiff, 

 more scattered, curved upwards and tipped with sharp points; 

 resin-ducts 2, equally distant from the upper and the lower 

 epidermis, as seen in cross-section under a hand-lens. Cones 

 purple or nearlv black, white-resinous; puberulent; 2-3 inches 

 long; bracts quite small and entirely concealed, their hook-like 

 tips reflexed. Seed-wings dark and lustrous. Cotyledons 4-5. 

 From 8,500 ft. to timber-line, often growing side by side with 

 the spruces. 



4. PSEUDOTSUGA. Douglas Spruce; Red Fir. 



Tall trees at first conical, but becoming more or less 

 spreading; in characteristics intermediate between Abies and 

 Picea. Leaves from scaly buds; smaller and more crowded than 

 those of Abies; alternate and apparently 2-ranked by a twist 

 near base; not borne on sterigmata; flat; blunt at apex; sto- 

 mata on lower surface only; resin-ducts 2, lateral, close to 

 lower epidermis. Cones pendulous; maturing the first year; 

 greenish or purplish-tinged when young, light brown when 

 mature; the scales thin, persistent, each furnished with a 

 conspicuous, exserted, 3-pointed bract. Seeds winged; co- 

 tyledons 6-12. 



1. P. mucronata (Raf.) Sudw. (P. Douglasii Carr. ; P. taxi- 

 folia Britton.) Wood (under compound microscope) charac- 

 terized by an abundance of spiral vessels. Bark brown, .very 

 thick and very much cracked. Leaf-scars small, elliptical, 

 their axes making an angle of about 45 degrees with direction 

 of the stem. Midrib prominent on lower surface. Leaves 

 crowded; not notched at apex. Cones 2-4 inches long; middle 

 tooth of bract long and narrow, lateral teeth broad and short. 

 A tree known by at least thirty common names, "Oregon Pine" 

 or "Douglas Fir" being those by which it is known in com- 

 mence. Frora 7,000-11,000 ft. (in the Wasatch). 



