1388 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



brownish yellow, densely covered with minute erect glandular pubescence, 

 retained for several years. Leaves disagreeable in odour when bruised, radially 

 spreading from the branches equally on all sides, long and slender, about i^ in. long, 

 bluish in tint, sharp pointed, quadrangular in section, with four stomatic lines on 

 each of the inner two sides, and two lines on each of the outer two sides. This tree 

 has never borne either flowers or cones. 



In the pendulous branches and the radial arrangement of the leaves it 

 resembles P. Smithiana ; but differs entirely from this species in branchlets and 

 buds. The tree at Kew, the history of which cannot be ascertained, now measures 

 40 ft. high by 3 ft. in girth. 



It is probably identical with a specimen, preserved in the Kew Herbarium, 

 which was gathered by Fendler in 1847 in New Mexico. This specimen, which 

 bears no cones, has similar branchlets and buds, and leaves similar in length and 

 stomatic lines, but somewhat stouter. Engelmann has marked this specimen in 

 pencil: "vigorous long-leaved form, young tree"; but in all probability it is a 

 distinct species. Until the tree at Kew bears cones, the identification must remain 

 doubtful. The seed was perhaps sent home by Roezl, who collected in this region. 



Distribution 



Engelmann's spruce is an alpine tree, widely distributed in western North 

 America, extending in the Rocky Mountains from Alberta^ to southern New 

 Mexico and Arizona, and westwards to the Selkirk and Cascade Mountains of 

 British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. Towards the south it occurs at 8000 

 to 11,500 feet elevation, while farther north it descends to 5000 feet. It attains 

 its largest size and forms a great part of the forests _on the high mountains of 

 southern Alberta, and is a common tree in Montana and Idaho. Westward, on the 

 Cascades and Blue Mountains of Washington and Oregon, it is smaller in size, and 

 is usually scattered amongst other trees ; and on account of its slightly different habit, 

 was distinguished by Lemmon as P. columbiana^ ; but both Sargent and Britton 

 are unable to separate this even as a distinct variety. It is common on the Yellow- 

 stone plateau in Wyoming, and forms extensive forests in Colorado, Utah, eastern 

 Nevada, and the San Francisco peaks of northern Arizona, reaching its most 

 southerly point on the summit of the Mogollon Mountains in New Mexico. 



(A- H.) 

 This tree is a conspicuous feature in the alpine forest of Alberta, where I often 

 camped under its shelter in 1895. It grows from the foothills of the Rocky 

 Mountains up to nearly timber line, which is here about 7000 feet. It seems to be 

 a very slow-growing tree, for Wilcox^ counted 400 rings on an old stump near 

 Lake Louise, which was less than 3 ft. in diameter. 



> A good photograph of a forest of this tree at Laggan is reproduced by Mayr, Fremdldnd. Wald- «. Parkbaume. 325, 

 fig. 103 (1906). ' •^ ^' 



2 The tree in Montana ascribed to this species by M. E. Jones, Montana Botany Notts, 10 (1910), is P. albertiana. 

 ' The Rockies of Canada, 62 (1900). 



