Abies 751 



short triangular cusp and without any emargination. In cultivated specimens, cones 

 very large, 6 to 8 inches long, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, bluish when growing, 

 brownish when mature, cylindrical, slightly tapering to an obtuse apex ; scales much 

 broader than in wild specimens (i^ inch) ; bracts only extending to about half the 

 height of the scale, with a broad rectangular claw, only slightly narrower than the 

 broadly ovate denticulate lamina, which is tipped with a short triangular cusp : 

 seed with wing about an inch long ; wing broadly trapezoidal, shining brown, and 

 about 1 5- times as long as the seed. 



The cones of Abies Pindroiu are very similar, the main difference being that in 

 the latter the expanded portion of the bract is situated close to the lower edge of the 

 scale, and is oval, less finely denticulate, and emarginate above with a minute mucro 

 in the emargination. 



Varieties 



The above description, which, as regards the leaves and branchlets, applies to 

 ordinary cultivated specimens of Abies Webbiana, also fits exactly the form of that 

 species which occurs in Sikkim, and does not differ from the original description 

 which was founded on specimens from Nepal. The high-level silver fir, how- 

 ever, which occurs in the western Himalayas appears to be a much shorter- 

 leaved tree than that which is common in Sikkim ; and has been supposed by some 

 to be a form of Abies Pindrow. This form, which is apparently the same as 

 specimens collected on the Chor mountain near Simla by Sir George Watt, is met 

 with occasionally in cultivation, and may be distinguished as follows : — 



Var. brevifolia} a tree with smooth bark on the stem and branches. Young 

 branchlets grey, with only slightly prominent pulvini ; pubescence short, erect, 

 brown, confined to the indistinct fine grooves between the pulvini. Leaves much 

 shorter than in the type, not exceeding \\ inch in length, greyish beneath with two 

 inconspicuous stomatic bands. 



This variety differs in appearance from the type, which has longer leaves, very 

 silvery white beneath ; but agrees with it in the arrangement, texture, and shape of 

 the leaves. The grey colour and comparative smoothness of the branchlets, and the 

 smooth bark on the stem and branches, suggest some affinity with A. Pindrow ; but 

 the long, slender, narrow leaves of the latter species, differently arranged on the 

 glabrous branchlets, are entirely different. 



I first received cultivated specimens of this variety from Glasnevin, Kilma- 

 curragh, and Batsford Park, where there are young trees, which have not yet 

 produced cones. The Glasnevin and Kilmacurragh trees were raised from seed, 

 sent from the Himalayas in 1879, but without any record of the precise locality; 

 and they resemble the type in habit. The origin of the Batsford tree is obscure. 



1 Brandis, in Indian Trees, 692 (1906), distinguishes two forms ai A. Webbiana, viz. : — 



(a) ^' A. Webbiana, Lindley. High Level Silver Fir of N. W. Himalaya." This is identical with our var. brevifolia, 

 and is not the same as A. Webbiana, Lindley. 



(b) "A. densa, Griffith. East Himalayan Silver Fir.'' This, from a comparison of type specimens in the Kew Her- 

 barium, is identical with A. Webbiana, Lindley, which was founded on Pinus Webbiana, Wallich, described from Nepal 

 specimens. 



