A SYNOPSIS OF, THE AMERICAN FIRS. 341 
obtuse or mostly acutish leaves with entire margins ; anther-scales 10-12, rounded, entire, each on [592 (10)] 
usually 4 or sometimes 6 anther-cells ; berries on straight peduncles, 1-2-seeded ; seeds angled , y 
groove l, and often rough toward the upper end. — Spec. Pl. 1471 (1753) ; Parlat. 1. c. 488. (See Fig. 
rom the St, tiie to Florida and from the Atlantic to the Northern Pacific; it is not found in Southern 
Texas, in the greater part of Utah and Arizona, and in the whole of California and perhaps Oregon; in Washington 
Territory and British Columbia it associates with Sabina and perhaps with occidentalis, and in the Rocky Mountains 
south of Pike’s Peak with the latter species ; on the Upper Missouri (Cedar Island) it attains large dimensions. — 
Usually the berries are small, about 3 lines thick, but in the Rocky Mountains forms occur with berries of 4 or 5 lines 
in diameter, and with larger seeds ; among the foot-hills of Pike’s Peak the trees of this species have the size and shape 
of an apple tree, with a rounded, spreading top. 
9. J. Bermuptana, L.: A tree said to have been common on the Bermudas, and also in other West Indian 
Islands, of which I have seen only a few specimens. Branchlets stout ; leaves in pairs, oblong or linear-oblong, obtuse, 
closely appressed, with entire margins and a well-marked linear gland or resin-duct on the back; anther-scales about 
16, large, rounded, smooth-edged, with about 6 cells ; berry with 2-4 seeds, much like those of the last species. — Spec. 
Pl. 1. c.; Parlat. 1. ¢. 490. (See Fig. 8.) 
arbadensis, L. : is said to be the same species, and Biota Meldensis, Gord. its acerose young state. Michaux, 
as well as Parlatore, quotes Florida as its home, but all the specimens from that country which I have seen, even those 
from Cedar Keys, and those of Michaux’s Herbarium in Paris under the name of J. Barbadensis, are nothing but forms 
f J. Virginiana, with very small, rounded, and strongly convex leaves. The forms from the different West Indian 
Islands, all referred to J. Birkitiana, require further examination, as we know that one at least, from Cuba (see p, 
590), is certainly quite different from it. 
Vv. A SYNOPSIS OF THE AMERICAN FIRS (Abies, Linr).! 
FRoM THE 1 OF THE ACADEMY OF ScrencE oF Sr. Louis, Vou. II1., pp. 1-10 OF REPRINT ISSUED IN 1878. 
GREAT confusion prevails in regard to the distinction of species of our Firs and in sia [593 (1)] 
synonymy. This is owing partly to the innate difficulty of the subject and to the ve 
perfect descriptions in the books, and partly to the inordinate zeal of seed collectors ia buraetees 
ists. But in the last decade the western mountain regions, the homes of most of our firs, have been 
more fully explored, and the geographical limits of the species ascertained ; and in about the same 
period the anatomical structure of their leaves has been investigated, and has furnished welcome aid 
in the distinction and the classification of the species. 
It is a most interesting as well as significant fact that while the anatomical structure of the 
leaves of higher organized plants shows considerable uniformity, so that it rarely can be made avail- 
able for diagnostic purposes, the conifers exhibit such a wonderful variety of leaf-structure (approach- 
ing thereby the lowest orders of vascular plants), that often a single leaf is sufficient to recognize the 
genus, and often the species, even when the ordinary characters may leave us in doubt. 
The anatomy of coniferous leaves has been often examined into, but the first to appreciate their 
characters as a means of classification was F. Thomas, who in 1865 published an ie treatise 
on the subject in Pringsheim’s Jahrb. 4, pp. 23-63. He was followed in 1871 by C. E. Bertrand, 
Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 18, pp. 376-381. The same author gave a more elaborate ere on this sub- 
1 T follow Link (Linnea, 15, 525, 1841) in his name, land, but is now being abandoned. Picea Link (the same as 
definition, and circumscription of the genus, which seems to Abies Don) is the proper name for the spruces. acne 
be a very natural one, comprising the silver or balsam firs. the elder DeCandolle, Gray, and others comprise under the 
The synonym Picea Don, in Loudon Arb, 4, 2329, 1838, is name of Abies both firs and spruces. The generic distinctions 
the older name and enjoys the Linnean prestige, but is con- between them are based both on the floral and fruit characters 
trary to classical (Plinius, ete.) and philological authority. as well as on the leaf anatomy. 
The name Abies is generally adopted on the continent of Ps reprint of this paper will be found in _ pee 23 
Europe, while Picea was heretofore principally used in Eng- ronicle, n.s., Vol. IX. pp. 265-266, 300, 33 
