118 CONIFER.E. Abies. 



% Leaves Jiat or flattish. 



•f— Tipper side of the leaves dark green, glossy and without stomata. 



++ Leaves acute: linear tip of the bracts long-exserted. 



1. A. bracteata, Nutt. A tall slender strictly pyramidal tree, 100 to 150 feet 

 high aud 1 ur 2 leet in diameter, with brown bark : leaves mostly somewhat 2- 

 ranked, linear or linear-lanceolate, an inch or two long by 1 to 1 1 lines wide, with 

 two pale (or in young leaves white) bands beneath : cones oval to subcylindric, 3 or 4 

 inches long and 1|- to 2 inches thick; bracts cuneate-obcordate, scarcely exceeding 

 the transversely oval glabrous scales, terminating in elongated linear foliaceous mid- 

 ribs or awns (1 to H inches long) : seeds as long as the obovate rounded wing. — 

 Sylva, iii. 137, t. 118; Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 4740; Murr. in Edinb. New Phil. 

 Journ. X. 1, t. 2; Engelm. \. c. GOl. Finns vemista, Dougl. in Comp. Bot. Mag. ii. 

 152. P. bracteata, Don, Trans. Linn. Soc. xvii. 442. Picea bracteata. Loud. 



Thus far only known from the Santa Lucia Mountains, at an elevation of 3,000 to 6,000 feet. 

 The pointed buds are unusually large for the genus (about half an inch long), covered with im- 

 bricated scales. 



++ ++ Leaves obtuse or emarginate : bracts enclosed. 



2. A. grandis, Lindl. Very tall (200 to 300 feet high and 3 or 4 feet in diame- 

 ter), witli suiuuth brownish bark : leaves channelled above and glossy, with two 

 pale or white bands beneath, an inch or two long and somewliat 2-ranked on the 

 younger or lower branches, on the higher branchlets shorter, somewhat cuneate, and 

 crowded on their upper side: cones cylindric, retuse, 2 to 4 inches long, with scales (13 

 or 14 lines wide) nearly twice broader than high, the quite short obcordate or 2- 

 lobed bracts with or without a short point : wing of the seeds very oblique, about 

 as broad as long. — Penny Cyc, i. 30 ; Engelm. 1. c. 598. Pimis grandis, Dough; 

 Parlat. P. amabilis, Dougl. 1 ; not of later authors. Picea graiidis, Loud. Arbor, iv. 

 2341, fig.; Newberry, Pacif. R. Ptep. vi. 46, fig. 16 and t. 6. 



Confined principally to the northern Pacific Coast, where it extends from British Columbia to 

 Northern California, as far south as ]\Iendocino. Probably the largest fir known ; in Oregon one 

 of the important timber-trees, though the wood is inferior to that of the Douglas and Sitcha spruces. 

 Readily distinguished from the mountain firs by the glossy green upper surface of the leaves, and 

 by the other characters enumerated above. 



+- -I— Leaves pale and with stomata on both sides. 



3. A. concolor, Lindl. A large tree, 80 to 150 feet high with a diameter of 2 

 to 4 feet, with rough grayish bark : leaves mostly obtuse, pale green, those of 

 younger trees and lower branches elongated, 2 to 2| and even 3 inches long, 2- 

 ranked, often slightly channelled and notched, those of old trees and of upper cone- 

 bearing branches shorter (an iuch long), broader, thicker, convex above and often 

 falcate, covering the upper side of the branchlets : cones oblong-cylindrical, 3, 4, or 

 even 5 inches long and 1^ to If inches in diameter, pale green or sometimes dull 

 purplish; scales (12 to 15 lines wide) nearly twice wider than high; bracts short, 

 enclosed, truncate or emarginate, with or without a short mucro : wing of the seeds 

 oblique, as long as broad : cotyledons 5 to 7. — Journ. Hort. Soc. v. 210 ; Engelm. 

 1. c. 600, and Wheeler's Rep. vi. 255. Picea concolor, Gordon, Pin. 155. Pinus 

 concolor, Engelm. ; Parlat. in DC. Prodr. xvi^. 426. Abies Loiviana, Murr. A. 

 grandis of the Californian botanists. A. amabilis (I), Watson, Bot. King Exp. 333. 



A common fir throughout the Californian Sierras, from 3,000 or 4,000 to 8,000 feet elevation, 

 extending into Southern Oregon and through the mountains of Arizona to Utah and S. Colorado. 

 Always readily recognized by the gray bark of the trunk (whence often called in California 

 "White Fir"), and by the pale color of the foliage, which at last becomes dull green. A very 

 ornamental tree, especially the paler variety, but the timber is not much esteemed. ^. Lowiana, 

 known also in nurseries as A. Parsoniana, lasiocarpa and amabilis, distinguished by its longer 

 flatter straighter leaves with fewer stomata on the upper side, is a young and vigorous state of 

 this species, which has not yet fruited in cultivation. 



