SPRUCE AND BALSAM FIR TREES. 33 



therefore in regions with such conditions the tree confines itself 

 mainly to cooler northern slopes and other protected sites. 



Abies grandis is a fairly prolific seeder, trees in open stands fruit- 

 ing most heavily. Seed is produced mainly at irregular intervals of 

 about 2 or 3 years ; whether or not this species has the habit of regular 

 periodic seed production is, however, not fully determined. Trees 

 grown in the open occasionally produce a few cones when they are 

 about 20 years old, seed production increasing thereafter up to old 

 age. The seed has a rather low rate of germination and only tran- 

 sient vitality. Under favorable conditions some seed germinates 

 soon after it falls to the ground, and seedlings may become estab- 

 lished before cold weather. Moderately humous, shaded soils are 

 most favorable to germination, but with sufficient moisture and light, 

 seeds sprout readily and seedlings thrive in either pure humus or 

 mineral soils. Seedlings come up both in the open and in shady 

 places. 



LONGEVITY. 



The extreme age limit of this fir is unknown. It is probable, how- 

 ever, only a moderately long-lived tree, possibly attaining an age of 

 from 200 to 250 years. One tree, 34f inches in diameter, showed an 

 age of 196 years. 



WHITE FIR. 



Abies concolor (Gord.) Parry. 



COMMON NAME AND EARLY HISTOEY. 



Abies concolor is a massive tree fitly and widely called white fir 

 because of the light ashy hue of its bark. A few other local common 

 names applied to it, such as "silver fir," "white balsam," etc., also 

 refer to this characteristic. 



The white fir was first discovered in the southern Rocky Mountain 

 region by a Russian collector of plants named Augustus Fendler, 1 

 who found it in 1847 near Santa Fe, N. Mex., while exploring there 

 under the protection of United States troops stationed in that coun- 

 try during our war with Mexico. It was not discovered in our Pa- 

 cific slope country, where its more extensive range lies, until 1851, 

 when John Jeffrey collected specimens of the tree in northern Cali- 

 fornia. 2 The first technical name applied to white fir, the one it now 

 bears, was published in 1850, but without a botanical description, an 

 omission which left this name legally unestablished until 1875. The 

 earliest properly established technical name applied to white fir is 

 " Picea concolor Gordon," which was published in 1858, and on which 



x Asa Gray, in Am. Journal of Sci., xxix (ser. 3), 169; Canby Bot. Gaz., x, 285, 301. 

 2 Sargent, Silva, XII, 124. 



