230 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



fourteen to fifteen scales. Scales thin, broader than long, semicircular with a 

 wedge-shaped base, convex, margin irregularly denticulate, pubescent on both 

 surfaces. Bract oblong, abruptly tapering at the apex, which is visible between 

 the scales. Seed with terminal asymmetrical wing, and two resin-vesicles on 

 the side next the scale. 



The name Pattoniana is adopted as being the first published under the correct 

 genus Tsuga. The tree is known to American botanists as Tsuga Merten- 

 siana, which is unfortunate, as this name was for many years in use for the western 

 hemlock. There is no confusion possible if Pattoniana be selected, as no other 

 hemlock has been known at any time by this name. 



Varieties 



The preceding description is drawn up from living specimens of the form with 

 bluish entire leaves, cultivated in this country, and applies, in all essential charac- 

 ters, to dried specimens from trees growing wild in America. I have examined the 

 material in the Kew herbarium and also specimens collected by Elwes on Mount 

 Shasta at 7500 feet elevation ; and there do not appear to be two distinct varieties 

 of the tree in the wild state, as the presumed alpine form is only a stunted shrub 

 which agrees in botanical characters with the trees from lower levels. 



In England, however, there is a form in cultivation, distinguished by its green 

 serrulate leaves, which differs in many respects from the other form. Concerning its 

 origin, we only know, on the authority of Murray,^ that it was raised at Edinburgh 

 from seeds collected by Jeffrey in 1851 on the Mount Baker range in British 

 Columbia. Jeffrey found trees growing there from 5000 feet elevation to the snow 

 line, varying in size from 150 feet in height and 13^- feet in girth at lower levels to a 

 stunted shrub not more than 4 feet high close to the timber line. Specimens at Kew 

 from Mount Baker gathered by Jeffrey all have entire leaves and belong to the 

 ordinary wild form. 



Engelmann,' who visited the Mount Baker range, states that the trees growing 

 there are the ordinary forms of Tsnga Pattoniana and Tsuga Albertiana. He 

 suggests that the plants raised from Jeffrey's seed may be a mountain form of the 

 latter species ; but this cannot be admitted, as they do not resemble that species in 

 botanical characters (buds, leaves, etc.). It is possible that these plants are only a 

 seedling variation of Tstiga Pattoniana, and do not correspond with any distinct 

 species or geographical form in the wild state. 



Murray,^ believing that he had two species to deal with, named the bluish form 

 Abies Hookeriana, and assigned the name Abies Pattoniana, Balfour, to the other 

 form. The original figure of Balfour's species represents, however, the same plant 

 ^s Abies Hookeriana of Murray; and much confusion has resulted in consequence 

 in the use of the two names Hookeriana and Pattoniana. It is most convenient to 



1 Edin. New. Phil. Jour. 2S9 (1855) and Fro,. Hort . See. ii. 202 (1S63). 2 Card. Chron. xvii. 145 (1SS2). 



The distinctions relied on by Murray in the cones are trifling ; and in the Kew Herbarium there are wild specimens 

 showing these differences, but all belonging to the form with blue entire leaves, I have not seen cones belonging to the other 

 form. 



