56 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



frequently stomatiferous above; persistent usually for eight or ten years, in falling 

 leaving small circular scars. Flowers axillary, from buds formed the previous sea- 

 son on branchlets of the year, surrounded at the base by conspicuous involucres of 

 enlarged bud-scales, the staminate very abundant on the lower side of branches above 

 the middle of the tree, oval or oblong-cylindrical, with yellow or scarlet anthers sur- 

 mounted by short knob-like projections, the pistillate usually on the upper side only 

 of the topmost branches, or in some species scattered also over the upper half of the 

 tree, erect, globose, ovoid or oblong, their scales imbricated in many series, obovate, 

 rounded above, cuneate below, much shorter than their acute or dilated mucronate 

 bracts. Fruit an erect ovoid or oblong cylindrical cone, its scales closely imbricated, 

 thin, incurved at the broad apex and generally narrowed below into long stipes, 

 decreasing in size and sterile toward the end of the cone, falling at maturity 

 with their bracts and seeds from the stout tapering axis of the cone long-persist- 

 ent on the branch. Seeds furnished with large conspicuous resin-vesicles, ovoid or 

 oblong, acute at the base, covered on the upper side and infolded below on the 

 lower side by the base of their thin wings abruptly enlarged at the oblique apex; 

 seed-coat thin, of 2 layers, the outer thick, coriaceous, the inner membranaceous; 

 cotyledons 4-10, much shorter than the inferior radicle. 



Abies is widely distributed in the New World from Labrador and the valley of the 

 Athabasca River to the mountains of North Carolina, and from Alaska through the 

 Pacific and Rocky Mountain regions to the highlands of Guatemala, and in the Old 

 World from Siberia and the mountains of central Europe to southern Japan, central 

 China, the Himalayas, Asia Minor, and the highlands of northern Africa. Twenty- 

 five species are now recognized. Several exotic species are cultivated in the north- 

 ern and eastern states; of these the best known and most successful as ornamental 

 trees are Abies Nordmanniana, Spach, of the Caucasus, Abies Cilicica, Carr., of 

 Asia Minor, Abies Cephalonica, Loud., a native of Cephalonia, Abies Veitchi, Lindl., 

 and Abies homolepis, S. & Z., of .Japan, Abies Picea, Lindl., of the mountains of south- 

 ern and central Europe, and Abies Pinsapo, Boiss., of the Spanish Sierra Nevada. 



Abies is the classical name of the Fir-tree. 



CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES. 



Leaves flat and grooved above, with stomata on the lower and sometimes on the upper sur- 

 face, rounded and often notched, or on fertile branches frequently acute at the apex. 

 Leaves dark green and lustrous above, pale below. 

 Cones purple. 



Bracts of the cone-scales much longer than their scales, reflexed. 



1. A. Fraseri (A). 

 Bracts of the cone-scales shorter or rarely slightly longer than their scales. 



2. A. balsamea (A). 



Bracts of the cone-scales gradually narrowed into long slender tips half the length 

 of their scales ; leaves crowded, silvery white below. 3. A. amabilis (B, G). 

 Cones green. 



Bracts of the cone-scales laciniate and short-pointed at the apex ; leaves conspicu- 

 ously notched on fertile branches. 4. A grandis (B, G). 

 Leaves pale blue-green. 

 Cones purple. 



Bracts of the cone-scales rounded, emarginate and long-pointed at the apex ; leaves 

 obtusely pointed and occasionally notched, and on fertile branches thickened and 

 acute at the apex. 5- A. lasiocarpa (B, F, G). 



