778 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



3. Var. aurea, Beissner,^ young foliage golden yellow, gradually changing to a 

 silvery grey colour. 



4. Var. brevifolia, Beissner,^ leaves short, thick, obtuse, twice as broad as in the 

 typical form. 



Distribution 



Abies concolor occurs in the Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado and extends 

 southwards over the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona into northern Mexico, 

 being the only silver fir in the arid regions of the Great Basin and of southern 

 New Mexico and Arizona. It occurs also in Utah in the Wasatch Mountains, and 

 in southern California, in the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains. It 

 is accordingly confined to dry regions, while Abies Lowiana, which is in all 

 probability only a geographical form of it, occurs in the more rainy regions of the 

 Sierra Nevada of California and the southern mountains of Oregon. According to 

 some opinions, the three species, Abies grandis, Abies Lowiana, and Abies concolor 

 are only geographical forms of one large species. 



Sargent says, of Abies concolor, that it endures heat and dryness best of all the 

 silver firs of North America, and its distribution is accordingly more southerly than 

 that of the other species, which occur in the United States. 



History and Cultivation 



This species was discovered by Fendler, near Sante Fd, in 1847, and was first 

 clearly described by Parlatore, who adopted for it Engelmann's MS. name, Pinus 

 concolor. It does not appear to have been introduced ^ into cultivation until about 

 1872. Syme mentions^ two-year-old seedlings of it as a new species in 1875. 

 Roezl, apparently in 1874, sent specimens and seeds, which were labelled Picea 

 concolor violacea," from New Mexico to Messrs. Sanders and Co., St. Albans. This 

 species has been much confused with A. Lowiana, which was introduced considerably 

 earlier. It is probable that there are no trees of true A. concolor in cultivation, 

 older than 1873 o'' 1874. 



Abies concolor, according to Sargent, is the only American silver fir, which is 

 really successful in cultivation in the eastern part of the United States, where it 

 grows better than A. Lowiana. 



We have seen few trees of large size, though one at Highnam Court, Gloucester- 

 shire, of no great age, was 44 feet by 2 feet 9 inches in 1908. 



It is less common in cultivation than A. Lowiana, which it much excels in 

 beauty of foliage. Mr. Crozier says that young trees growing at Durris are quite 

 healthy. ^^ p^ ^ 



1 Mitt. Deut. Dendr. Ges. 1906, p. 144. 

 / Roezl sent a few seeds in 1872. Cf. Lavallee, Muveaux Conifires du Colorado ,t d. la Califomie, mjourn. Soc 

 Cent. Hort. France, v„.. (1875). 3 Card. Chron. iii. 563 (1875). 4 ma, \^^_ 



