CHAPTER XXII. 151 



may be known by its dark green, short and dense foliage, the slender 

 nabit of the tree and the slender nodding terminal shoot. It is certainly 

 one of the most beautiful trees of the north, for it is found even in 

 Alaska. 



Pseudotsuga taxifolia (the P. mucronata of some authors) known 

 under various names, such as "Douglas spruce," "Oregon pine," "Red 

 fir" (although it is neither pine nor fir) comes into the reserves from 

 the north, like the hemlock, and extends southward along the Sierras, 

 at the same elevation of the cedar and Yellow pine, in decreasing areas, 

 to the Yosemite Valley and the headwaters of the San JouQuin river. 

 Its bark is black and rough like the old White firs; but its foliage and 

 branches are much less stiff than the firs. The leaves are very fra- 

 grant and are even preferred by some to those of the fir for pillows. 



The spruces are represented in the southern reserves by the Pseu- 

 dotsuga macrocarpa. This tree was considered for a time to be only a 

 variety of the great Douglas spruce, but now its specific standing is 

 recognized. 



The IViacrocarpa is mainly distinguished from the Douglas spruce 

 (Pseudotsuga taxifolia) by the greater length of its cone. These pen- 

 dent cones are often quite long. One of their peculiarities is the 

 growth of the bracts beyond the cone scales from an inch to an inch 

 and a naif or more. These bracts have two teeth and a central projec- 

 tion. There is another cone that far exceeds the bract growth of the 

 Macrocarpa. This is the cone of the Abies Bracteata, a species of fir 

 . confined to the Santa Lucia mountains. The bracts in that case are 

 more like long thick switches. 



Our two firs are the white and red. Abies concolor, the white, and 

 Abies magnifica, the red or balsam fir. The firs are very handsome 

 trees with dense, dark green foliage. In youth, and sometimes in the 

 older white firs, the tree is quite silvery from the numerous stomata 

 mainly on the under side of the leaves. The bark is rough, thick and 

 furrowed. In the white fir, the bark is lighter in color, m the balsam 

 fir, the bark is dark or reddish. The fir cannot be mistaken for any 

 other of our mountain trees, because, first, its cones are erect or stand 

 up on its branches, and second, because the cones do not drop off en- 

 tire. The scales drop off piece by piece, leaving the cone axis persist- 

 ent for a long time. For this reason, one does not find fir cones on the 

 ground. The red or balsam fir can always be distinguished from the 

 whi^e fir by the delicious, persistent and penetrating fragrance of the 

 foliage. Mountaineers select branches of the balsam fir for their beds. 



