MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS ON CONIFER. 383 
XI. NOTES ON WESTERN CONIFERS.* 
From THE BoraNIcAL GAZETTE. Vou. VII. 1882. 
In another publication I intend to give a full account of the observations on Conifere made in the Pacific [4] 
— when with Prof. Sargent and Dr. Parry I explored their forests, but it seems proper that I should not with- 
old any longer the principal results arrived at. 
Abies amabilis, (Douglas) Forbes, is not a variety of A. grandis, as I had assumed, but a very distinct species 
peculiar to the higher mountains of the Cascade Range from Oregon to British Columbia. It is easily recognized by 
its dense, dark-green, glossy leaves, very white underneath, usually emarginate, but on the fertile branchlets acute ; 
by its large very thick purple cones and oblanceolate acuminate bracts. 
Ais nobilis, (Douglas) Lindley, is peculiar to the higher mountains of Oregon and has not yet been found in 
California nor, as far as I can learn, in Washington Territory. Its grooved leaves crowded on the branchlets, and its 
large purple cones with long exsert recurved bracts, well characterize it. The tree on Mount Shasta which has gone 
by this name (also in the Flora of California) is distinguished by its quadrangular leaves, keeled on the upper side ; 
its large cones considerably ian those of nobilis and have often, not always, exsert and recurved bracts; it is a form 
of A. — Murr., sage common Red Fir of the Californian sierras, which has bracts normally enclos 
reflexa, n. sp. (P. facilis, var. refleca, Eng. in Rothrock’s Rep. Bot. Exp. Wheeler), proves to be quite dis- 
thas ie flexilis, si a by the reflexed scales of the cone, but also and principally by the latig g peduncled cylindric 
female aments, erect in the first, recurved in the second year, W which associate it with the true Sirobi, while the large 
wingless seeds distinguish it from the other species of that secti 
P. albic , Eng., is specifically distinguished from P. feailis by its subglobose caves cones with short, thick 
scales, - its thin white at last scaly ba 
Chihuahuana, Eng., observed is us in the Arizona Mountains, proves to be of peculiar interest as maturing its 
cones in the third year, the only American species with this character, which I have found only once more in the 
Mediterranean P. Pinea. 
P. Jeffreyi, Murr., holds its characters well wherever we have seen it from the mountains west of Mount Shasta, 
where it was first discovered, down to the Bernardino Mountains, affecting more particularly the eastern slopes. 
The glaucous branchlets with pleasantly aromatic fragrance, thinner glaucous eal the great size of the cones with 
thin, spiny recurved mucro on the scales, large seeds and more numerous cotyledons, distinguish it from P. ponderosa, 
which has brownish-green branchlets with a turpentine odor and dark green coarser “fo liage. 
. Arizonica, Eng., has also been repeatedly collected by us as well as by subsequent explorers, and the ques- 
tion has been agitated whether it may not be also a form of P. ponderosa. The fact is that five-leaved forms of this 
species do occur on the Californian sierras (Lemmon) and on the Arizona Mountains (Lemmon, oe but the [5] 
larger number of leaves is here a casual occurrence ; the branchlets show the brown-green color bove, 
the leaves are dark green and have the structure described by me in Wheeler’s Report. P. Arizo Pe glaucous 
branchlets, thinner leaves, constantly in See and of different structure ; its cones are thicker and ines with much 
more prominent umbos, but not much weight can be put on this last characte 
XII. MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS ON CONIFER. 
MORPHOLOGY OF THE CARPELLARY SCALES OF CONIFER. 
The true nature of the female flower of Conifere has been an important question among botanists since fifty [469] 
years, when Robert Brown first announced the doctrine of their gymnospermous character. Without going into 
details of the history of investigations and theories, it may be stated at once that the very thorough treatment of the ques- 
tion by G. Stenzel, published a few months ago in the Nov. Act. Nat. Cur., vol. xxxviii., as reported by Professor Eichler 
* Reprinted in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, n. s., vol. Xvii., the title The Conifer of the Rocky gaara This a 
Feb. 25, 1882, p. 260. In this connection mention should note on Conifers from Colorado, based o 8 avait of 
of a lecture by Dr. Engelmann at Washington Engelmann, printed in the Gardeners’ Chro 6, Th. 8., VOL. Ti 
niversity, reported in the St. Louis Daily Democrat of March io 1875, p. 402, and the Radin rioict June, 
March 6, 1875, under the heading The Forests of the Rocky 1875, 213-214, possess more popular than scientific 
Mountains, and reprinted in the Gardeners’ Monthly for May- inte si ad are omitted from this volume. — Eps. 
July of the same year (pp. 151-153, 181-184, 214-217), under 
