118 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



compelling it to try to make new summits out of 

 side branches, etc. Still it frequently lives more 

 than a thousand years, invincibly beautiful, and 

 worthy its place beside the Douglas spruce and 

 the great pines. 



This unrivaled forest is still further enriched 

 by two majestic silver firs, Abies magnifica and 

 Abies concolor, bands of which come down from 

 the main fir belt by cool shady ridges and glens. 

 Abies magnifica is the noblest of its race, grow- 

 ing on moraines, at an elevation of seven thou- 

 sand to eight thousand five hundred feet above 

 the sea, to a height of two hundred or two hun- 

 dred and fifty feet, and five to seven in diame- 

 ter ; and with these noble dimensions there is a 

 richness and symmetry and perfection of finish 

 not to be found in any other tree in the Sierra. 

 The branches are whorled, in fives mostly, and 

 stand out from the straight red purple bole in 

 level or, on old trees, in drooping collars, every 

 branch regularly pinnated like fern fronds, and 

 clad with silvery needles, making broad plumes 

 singularly rich and sumptuous. 



The flowers are in their prime about the mid- 

 dle of June : the staminate red, growing on the 

 underside of the branchlets in crowded profusion, 

 giving a rich color to nearly all the tree ; the 

 pistillate greenish yellow tinged with pink, stand- 

 ing erect on the upper side of the topmost 

 branches ; while the tufts of young leaves, about 



