Abies 797 



deciduous with it, terminating in linear, rigid spines, i to 2 inches long, which in the 

 upper half of the cone point towards its apex, and in the lower half are spreading 

 and often recurved. Seeds dark reddish-brown, about § inch long and nearly as 

 long as their pale reddish-brown shining wings. (A. H.) 



Distribution and History 



Abies bracteata has perhaps the most restricted distribution of all the silver 

 firs, as, according to Sargent, it only occurs in a few isolated groves along the 

 moist bottoms of canons at about 3000 feet elevation on both slopes of the western 

 ridge of the Santa Lucia Mountains in Monterey County, California. The most 

 northerly point where it is now known to grow is in Bear Canon, twenty-five miles 

 south of the Los Burros mines ; the other localities mentioned by Sargent are in the 

 San Miguel Canon and in a gorge at the head of the Nacimiento river. 



The discovery of this tree is assigned by Don, Sir W. J. Hooker,^ and 

 Sargent to Dr. T. Coulter, who, according to a letter^ of Douglas to Hooker dated 

 November 23, 1831, arrived at Monterey after he began the letter in question. 

 Douglas also, in a letter' dated October 1832, states* that he found the tree, which 

 he called Pinus venusta, in the preceding March " on the high mountains of Cali- 

 fornia," and that it is never seen at a lower elevation than 6000 feet above sea-level, 

 in lat. 36°, where it is not uncommon. 



But Kent says,^ in a note, that a comparison of the dates shows that Douglas 

 was the first discoverer, which, however, is not proved ; as, according to Douglas's 

 own showing. Coulter was at Monterey, near to the place where the tree grows, three 

 months before Douglas found the tree himself. Prof. Hansen * also has incorrectly 

 stated the date of Douglas's discovery of this tree as March 1831 instead of March 

 1832. 



William Lobb, when collecting for Messrs. Veitch in 1853, introduced it to 

 cultivation, and in a letter in Gardeners Chronicle, 1853, p. 435, describes it as "the 

 most conspicuous ornament of the arborescent vegetation. On the western 

 slopes, towards the sea, it occupies the deep ravines, and attains the height of 

 from 120 to 150 feet, and from i to 2 feet in diameter, the trunk as straight 

 as an arrow, the lower branches decumbent. The branches above are numerous, 

 short, and thickly set, forming a long tapering pyramid or spire, which gives to 

 the tree that peculiar appearance not seen in any other kind of the Pinus tribe. 

 Along the summit of the central ridges, and about the highest peaks, in the most 

 exposed and coldest places imaginable, where no other pine makes its appearance, 

 it stands the severity of the climate without the slightest perceptible injury, growing 

 in slaty rubbish, which to all appearance is incapable of supporting vegetation. In 

 such situations it becomes stunted and bushy. The cones are quite as singular as 

 the growth of the tree is beautiful ; when fully developed the scales, as well as 



> Bot. Mag. t. 4740 (i8S3)- ^ <^'"«?*- -*"'• ^'^S- "• P- i49- 



s Ibid. 151. * ^^^<^- 152- 



5 Veitch's Man. Coniferce, 497, note (1900). ^ Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. xiv. 459 (1892). 



