CONE-BEARERS. 63 



but they become, on the southern slopes of Shasta, a dark, 

 gloomy assemblage of massive black trunks, colored on 

 the north side from base to the limbs with bright yellow 

 lichen, or tree-moss, the lower limbs draped here atid 

 there with long, sweeping festoons of black, filmy lichen, 

 giving a funereal aspect to the whole scene, scarce relieved 

 by the twitter of a red squirrel, the long, wailing note of 

 a woodpecker, or the occasional cry of a bald eagle. 



GOLDEN FIR. Var. (b) xanthocarpa, Lemmon. 



Smaller, more symmetrical trees than the typ- 

 ical, and bearing smaller cones, averaging 4 to 5 

 inches long, half as thick near the base, tapering 

 slightly to the apex, of a golden color until matu- 

 rity (suggesting the name from the Greek xanthos, 

 yellow), the scales, seeds, and seed- wings proportion- 

 ately smaller. In high, sub-alpine localities, Mt. 

 Shasta to Mt. Webber and Mt. Whitney. 



Croup 2. Small-Cone Firs 



Microcarpce. 



Cones smaller, 2 to 4 inches long; bark whitrsh 

 within, though often brown or even darker outside; 

 leaves longer, mostly flat, and twisted one-half round 

 at base. Male flowers smaller, yellow. 



Three Species: 



No. 5 Grand Fir ^- grandis, Lindley. 



Becoming large trees of the Northwest, very 



