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A MANUAL OF THE CONIFERS 



robust and rapid growth, and more spreading branches; also by its 

 redder bark, "the more elongated scales of its cones, and the pro- 

 portionately longer wings of the seeds." It is perfectly hardy in 

 Great Britain, and it is one of the most ornamental of Coniferous 

 trees for the park and landscape. 



Habitat.— North America. The Pacific coast region, from Mendocino 



to Alaska. 



Introduced in 1851 by the Oregon Association of Edinburgh,* 

 through their collector, John Jeffrey, and named in honour of the 

 late lamented Prince Consort, Patron of the Association. 



Abies canadensis, the best known of all the Hemlock Firs. 

 It is a beautiful tree of pyramidal habit up to- about thirty years of 

 age, after which the top becomes rounded by the gradual lengthen- 



Fig, 29. — Fertile branchlet of Abies canadensis. 



ing of the upper branches and slower growth of the leader ; its 



general habit is then more open and spreading than the other 



Firs, and the branchlets more slender and pendulous. The cones, 



* An association of noblemen and gentlemen, chiefly Scotch, formed in 1850 for the 

 purpose of promoting the Botanical exploration of north-west America, and the intro- 

 duction into Great Britain of plants and trees, especially Coniferse, indigenous to that 

 region. 



