Abies beachypAylla. 



89 



as it is met with at a high elevation or in the plain, in Saghalien 

 and Jesso in the north, or in Nippon towards the south. The 

 branches are rigid and spreading, and clothed with coriaceous 

 smooth, obtuse leaves. The cones are from 3 to 4 inches long, 

 and purple when mature. The young plants growing in the 

 nursery at Coombe Wood, have the following characters : — Stem 

 erect, branches regularly whorled, horizontal in direction, and 

 covered with light cinereous brown bark, slightly roughened or 

 furrowed by the decurrent bases of the leaves ; branchlets distichous 

 and rigid ; buds covered with pale brown resinous scales ; leaves 



linear, spirally inserted round the branchlets, 

 but pointing laterally in two directions, 

 owing to a twist above the base, from three- 

 quarters of an inch to 1^ inch in length, those 

 below being the longest, obtusely pointed at 

 the apex or emarginate, bright green above 

 and marked with two silvery lines beneath. 

 Habitat. — Saghalien and Japan. 

 Introduced about the year 1870. 



Ahies Jjrachyphylla is one of the hardiest as 

 well as one of the handsomest of Silver Firs, 

 and cannot fail to be a valuable addition to 

 our ornamental trees for the park and land- 

 scape. A correspondent in Copenhagen, who 

 sent us a branch for identification, informs 

 us that it stands the Danish winter uninjured, 

 and that the tree in his possession was brought 

 in a young state by the captain of a Danish 

 trading vessel from the island of Saghalien. 



The specific name brachyphylla, from fipayvQ 

 (brachus), short, and <j>vXKov (phullon), a leaf, 

 refers to the shortness of the leaves, but the 

 appropriateness of the name to this species is 

 not very apparent. 



Fig, 13. — Cone of Abies brachy- 

 phylla (from the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle). 



Abies bracteata is one of the most remarkable of the Calif ornian 

 Silver Firs; its strict but stately habit, together with its massive 

 deep green foliage, impart to it a character so distinct, and so 

 impressive, that we cannot incur reproach for giving a somewhat 

 full description of the tree. We do so, however, in the words of 



