Abies 777 



ABIES CONCOLOR, Colorado Fir 



Aiies concolor} Lindley and Gordon, /ourn. Hort. Soc. v. 210 (1850); Masters, Journ. Linn. Soc. 

 {Bot^j-KXA. \ii, ff. 8-11 (1886), and Gard. Chron. viii. 748, ff. 147, 148 (1890); Sargent, 

 Silva N. Amer. xii. 121, t. 613 (1898) (in part), and Trees N. Amer. 62 (1905) (in part); 

 Kent, Veitch's Man. Conifera, 501 (1900). 



Picea concolor, Gordon, Pinetum, 155 (1858). 



Picea concolor, var. violacea, Roezl, ex Murray, Gard. Chron. iii. 464 (1875). 



Pinus concolor, Engelmann, ex Parlatore, in DC. Prod. xvi. 2, p. 427 (1868). 



A tree attaining in America 100 to 125 feet in height, with a girth of 9 feet. 

 Bark of old trees Assuring into small irregular plates. Buds, much larger than 

 those of A. Lowiana, broadly conical, rounded at the apex, brownish, resinous, 

 and slightly roughened by the raised tips of the scales. Young shoots smooth, 

 yellowish-green, with a minute scattered pubescence, variable in quantity and often 

 absent from the greater part of the branchlet. Second year's shoot greyish and 

 irregularly Assuring. 



Leaves on lateral branchlets irregularly arranged and not truly pectinate ; most 

 of the leaves extending laterally outwards and curving upwards, a few on the lower 

 side directed downwards and forwards, some on the upper side directed upwards and 

 forwards ; those above shorter than those below. Leaves up to 2 to 3 inches long, 

 j^ inch broad, glaucous on both surfaces, linear, flattened, slightly tapering at the 

 base, uniform in width elsewhere ; apex acute or rounded and not bifid, though 

 occasionally a slight emargination is discernible with a lens ; upper surface slightly 

 convex, not grooved, with fifteen to sixteen regular lines of stomata ; lower surface 

 convex with two bands of stomata, each of about eight irregular lines, not con- 

 spicuously white ; resin-canals marginal. Leaves on cone-bearing branches shorter, 

 thicker, falcate, all curving upwards. 



Cones, 3 to 5 inches long, i^ inch in diameter, cylindrical, narrowed at both 

 ends, rounded or obtuse at the apex ; greenish or purple before ripening, brown 

 when mature. Scales of native Colorado specimens much broader than long ; lamina 

 about I inch wide by |- inch long, upper margin entire, lateral margins rounded and 

 denticulate, gradually passing into the obcuneate claw or with a slightly auricled 

 truncate base. Bract, at the base of the scale, rectangular, denticulate, with truncate 

 upper margin and a minute mucro ; in some specimens deeply bifid above. Seeds 

 ^ inch long, with broad shining pinkish wings, about ^ inch long. In cultivated 

 specimens, both brown and purple cones occur. 



The following varieties have arisen in continental nurseries : — 



1. V2X. falcata, Beissner,^ leaves sickle-shaped, curving upwards. 



2. Var. glabosa, Beissner,^ globose in habit, with symmetrical short branches. 



> According to the view taken here, Abies concolor includes only the tree found in Colorado, Utah, and Southern 

 California. Sargent and other American botanists combine with this species the tree found in the Califomian Sierras, which 

 is considered by us to be a distinct species, A. Lowiana. The two forms differ remarkably in buds and foliage ; and it is 

 most convenient to regard them as distinct species, ^ Mitt. Deut. Dendr. Ges. 1905, p. 112. 



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