48 WILSON EXPEDITION TO CHINA 



jjif^^^ Abies Fargesii Franchet in Jour, de BoL XIII. 256 (1899).— 

 ,t^^^ Pritzel in Bot. Jahrb. XXIX. 218 (1900). — Masters in Jour. Linn. 

 ^ Soc. XXVI. 557 (1902).— Beissner, Handb. Nadelholzk. ed. 2, 194 



(1909). — Patschke in Bot. Jahrb. XLVIII. 642 (1913). 



Western Hupeh : Fang Hsien, alt. 2300-3300 m., forming forests, 

 May 1907 (No. 2088; tree 10-40 m. tall, girth 1-5 m.); same locality, 

 June and October 1910 (No. 4451) ; same locality, June 1901 (Veitch 

 Exped. No. 1895); A. Henry (No. 6881). Eastern Szech'uan: 

 Chengkou Ting, P. Farges (type). 



This is the common Silver Fir of north-western Hupeh where remnants of old 

 forests of it still occur. The species is characterized by its glabrous red-brown or 

 purplish branchlets, its slender short-stalked, scarcely resinous cones with exserted 

 spreading and recurved obovate-cuneate bracts, and by its horizontally spreading, 

 rather long leaves emarginate or bifid at the apex. The hypoderm consists of a 

 single, fairly uniform layer; the resin-ducts are lateral, either surrounded by par- 

 enchymatous cells or sub-epidermal, the latter position being common in young 

 plants. The trunk is of nearly uniform thickness for half its height, the branching 

 is relatively sparse and the branches though short are very massive. The wood 

 though soft and easily worked is fairly durable and is used for coffin-making, 

 indoor finishing and other purposes. 



The No. 1895 has been referred by Masters (in Jour. Bot. XLI. 270 [1903]) to 

 the very different A.firma Siebold & Zuccarini, a Japanese species not authenti- 

 cally known from China proper. The specimens identified and figured by Masters 

 in Gard. Chron. ser. 3, XXXIX. 213 (1906) as A. Fargesii belong to A. Delavayi 

 Franchet. 



Pictures of this tree will be found under Nos. 698, 0103, 0104, 0111, 0112 of the 

 collection of Wilson's photographs and in his Vegetation of Western China, No. 17. 



Abies squamata Masters in Gard. Chron, ser. 3, XXXIX. 299, fig. 

 121 (1906); in Jour. Linn. Soc. XXXVII. 423 (1906). — Patschke in 

 Bot. Jahrb. XLVIII. 643, fig. 3, 6 (1913). 



Western Szech'uan: north and west of Tachien-lu, forests, alt. 

 3600-4600 m., October 1910 (No. 4079; tree 20-40 m. tall, girth 2- 

 5 m.); same locahty, June 1904 (Veitch Exped. No. 3019, type). 



This remarkable Silver Fir is the most alpine of the species occurring in the 

 neighbourhood of Tachien-lu where it forms pure forests. The violet-coloured 

 cones are resinous and are slightly more elongate than shown in Masters's figure. 

 The shaggy purplish brown bark exfoHates in thin layers exactly in the same way 

 as that of the River Birch {Betula nigra L.). The leaves are short, relatively 

 broad, abruptly acute or obtuse, and vary considerably in degree of glaucescence. 

 The winter-buds are sub-globose, often flattened at the summit, reddish-brown and 

 very resinous. 



Here may be added notes on two other Chinese Silver Firs not represented in 

 Wilson's collections. 



Abies sutchuenensis Rehder & Wilson, n. sp. 

 Abies Fargesii, var. sutchuensis Franchet in Jour, de Bat. XIII. 256 (1899). 

 A 



