The Firs 



With these noble dimensions there is a richness and symmetry 

 and perfection of finish not to be found in any other tree in the 

 Sierras. The branches are whorled, in fives mostly, and stand 

 out from the straight red-purple bole in level, or on old trees, in 

 drooping collars, every branch regularly pinnated like a fern 

 frond, and clad with silvery needles, making broad and singularly 

 rich and sumptuous plumes. 



The flowers are in their prime about the middle of June; the 

 staminate, red, growing in crowded profusion on the under side 

 of the branchlets, giving a rich colour to nearly all the tree; the 

 pistillate, greenish yellow tinged with pink, standing erect on the 

 upper side of the topmost branches; while the tufts of young 

 leaves, about as brightly coloured as those of the Douglas spruce, 

 push out their fragrant brown buds a few weeks later, making 

 another grand show. 



"The cones mature in a single season from the flowers. 

 When full grown they are about 6 to 8 inches long, 3 to 4 inches 

 in diameter, blunt, massive, cylindrical, greenish grey in colour, 

 covered with a fine silvery down, and beaded with transparent 

 balsam, very rich and precious looking, standing erect like casks 

 on the topmost branches. If possible, the inside of the cones 

 is still more beautiful. The scales and bracts are tinged with 

 red and the seed wings are purple with bright iridescence." — 

 John Muir. 



A variety, Shastensis, Lemm., of A. magnifica, is distinguished 

 from the type species only by the yellow bracts that protrude and 

 partially cover the scales of the cones. This form inhabits high 

 elevations in the region of Mount Shasta and also occurs at the 

 lower end of the Sierra Nevada range. 



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