COLLECTED DESCRIPTIONS OF CONIFER. 379 
X. COLLECTED DESCRIPTIONS OF CONIFER. 
From THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 
Apres Menziesit and A. ENGpLMANNI. — There seems to be a.confusion in regard to them. In Colorado [790] 
Pies occupy different altitudes, — Menziesiz the lower elevations, wet plac ces, bogs, banks of mountain streams u 
0 8,500 feet altitude. Hence, up to the timber line A. Fngelmanni is Set often a large forests, or mixed 
Ww ee A. lasiocarpa (the Abies grandis of the Colorado botanists), Pinus contorta, flexilis, a A. Menziesii has 
a and rough bark, which reminds one of an Oak, A. Engelmanni a thin euaie cin sree tte n bark, The leaves of 
e former are certainly very stiff, and, at least in Colorado, spinous, pointed, and often oe those of Engelmannt 
an softer, thinner on lower, thicker and shorter on higher altitudes. Both extend north-west to Oregon and British 
Columbia, and there forms of Menziesii occur with obtuse leaves. In cultivation the A. pest from the north- 
western sea-coast undoubtedly behaves very arin mie that the seeds of which were obtained in the Rocky 
Mountains. The same aa I — exists between other Conifers common to both regions, e. g., A. Douglusit, 
. contorta and ponderosa. Now as to the light g concn or rather light blue variety of Menziesit, M. André justly 
extolled, and very spills name it after Dr. Parry, who first introduced it. In several gardens at Cambridge, 
ori and the neighborhood, fine young specimens can be seen, well grown, of ane but very stiff outlines, in which 
ven ite rigidity of the leaves is ‘ae ed by the eye, wid the aid of the t Larger ones make a striking 
biti cal on the stranger iu the lawns and yards about residences at Denver (Colorado) ; but he looks in a for the 
same in the mountains. The fact is, that the old tree is mostly irregular and ugly, and has a green foliage ; only the 
young branches of the spring, and still more the young sprouts, showing the peculiar whitish blue color, and many 
trees show scarcely any such tints. To be beautiful and striking it must be young. It is well known that the 
same color variety is found in many other Conifers. A striking ran ae is Abies males rn young plants raised 
from the seeds I brought in 1874 from Glen Eyre, at the base of Pike’s Peak, are whiter than th Menziesii, while 
others show this peculiarity much less. I may as well add the snack that Abies concolor, Kaiees considered a most 
rare tree of New Mexico, proves to be common from Southern Colorado, through New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona, 
and throughout the Californian sierras. I have scarcely a doubt that the so-called Abies grandis, Abies Lowiana, and 
Abies lasiocarpa (not the Oregon plant of Hooker, Fl. Bor, Am.) of these mountain ranges, are nothing but forms of 
this same A. concolor. — [June 23, 1877, n. s., vol. vii-] 
PorTLAND, OrEGON, Aug. 6, 1880. 
ABIES AMABILIS. — In an expedition to explore the forests of the Pacific coast regions we, Prof. C.S. Sargent, [720] 
Dr. C. C. Parry, and myself, three weeks ago ascended Silver Mountain, near Fort Hope, Frazer River, and 
found there, at an altitude of 4,000 to 5,500 feet a fir which we recognized as the long doubted Abies amabilis, growing 
with Tsuga Mertensiana, T. Pattoniana, Pinus albicaulis, and P. monticola, and rather higher than Pse 
Ettenion 
w days ago Prof. Sargent undertook the ascent of the very mountain just south of the Cascades of the Col- 
umbia, aie Douglas fifty-five years ago discovered A. amabilis and A. nobilis, and found on that wane — 
not only these two trees, but also T. Pattoniana and monticola, some P. contorta and a few feeble Abies gr 
amabilis is there better developed than further north, and we had photographs taken of specimens, copies wie ‘which I 
send to you. 
Fic, 136. — ABIES AMABILIS : DIAGRAM OF SECTION OF LEAF Fic. 137. — Anres AMABILIS: Bract, Scar, 
SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE REsIN-CANALS. SEED. 
It is a magnificent tree, at about 4,000 feet altitude ; the largest specimen, growing on the banks of a mountain 
torrent, was probably 150 to 200 feet high, with a trunk about 4 feet in diameter, branching to the ground and forming 
a perfect cone of dark green foliage. The bark of the old tree is 1} to 2 inches thick, furrowed and reddish gray, that 
of younger trees, less than 100 years old, is quite thin and smooth, light gray or almost white. It certainly is very 
closely allied to A. grandis, but is readily distinguished by its very crowded darker green foliage (whence the name 
