768 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



ABIES UMBELLATA 



Abies umbellata, Mayr, Abiet. Jap. Retches, 34, t. i, f. 2 (1890). 



Abies umbilicata, Beissner, ex Mayr, Fremdldnd. Wald- u. Farkbdume, 258 (1906). 



This species is very imperfectly known ; and there are no specimens in the Kew 

 herbarium. The plants distributed in England some years ago under the name by 

 Messrs. Veitch are identical with Abies homolepis, and, when seen by Mayr, were 

 pronounced by him to be a form of A. brachyphylla. 



According to Mayr this species is distinguishable with difficulty, when in the 

 young state, from A. brachyphylla, with which it agrees in the disposition and form 

 of the leaves, and in the characters of the buds and shoots. Mayr states, however, 

 that the leaves are not so white underneath as in A. brachyphylla. I have received 

 from Herr Spath of Berlin, a specimen of reputed A. umbellata, which agrees generally 

 in buds, shoots, and foliage with A. brachyphylla ; but has leaves slightly longer than, 

 and not so conspicuously white beneath, as is usual in that species. 



The cones, according to Mayr, resemble those of A. firma, and are very 

 different in size, colour, scales, and bracts, from those of A. brachyphylla ; and are 

 described by him as greenish-yellow when growing, brown when mature, about 4 

 inches long by i|- inch in diameter, cylindrical, the flattened apex having in its centre 

 a raised umbo ; scales about \\ inch broad by if inch long ; bracts narrowed in the 

 middle, slightly shorter than the scales, only exserted at the base of the cone. 



According to Mayr, this species is only found in a few localities in Japan, but 

 grows in considerable quantity on Mount Mutzumine in the province of Musashi, 

 where it occurs with A. brachyphylla in the beech forests. It grows also on 

 the lumonji-toge, leading from Musashi to Shinano, and is also probably not un- 

 common on the neighbouring mountains of Hida and Kai. 



This species has been united by Sargent, Kent, and others with A. firma ; but 

 it is very different from that species in foliage and shoots. It is possibly a hybrid 

 between A. brachyphylla, of which it has the foliage, and A. firma, which it resembles 

 in its cones. (A. H.) 



ABIES VEITCH 1 1, Veitch's Fir 



Abies Veitchii, Lindley, Gard. Chron. 1861, p. 23 ; Masters, Card. Chron. xiii. 275 (1880), and 

 Journ. Linn. Soc. {Bot.) xviii. 515, t. 20 (1881); Mayr, Monog. Abiet. Jap. Reiches, 38, t. 2, 

 f. 4 (1890) ; Kent, Veitch's Man. Coniferce, 541 (1900); Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Japon, 

 text 16, t. 5, ff. 23-42 (1900). 



Abies Eichleri, Lauche, Berlin. Gartenzeit. 1882, p. 63. 



Finns selenolepis, Parlatore, DC. Frod. xvi. 2, p. 427 (1868). 



Ficea Veitchii, Murray, Froc. Roy. Hort. Soc. ii. 347, flf. 52-62 (1862). 



A tree, attaining 60 to 70 feet in height. Bark of trunk greyish and remaining 

 smooth even in old trees. Buds small, subglobose, purplish, resinous. Young 



