24 



Yellow Fir (Oreg., Mont., Idaho, Wash.); Spruce (Mont.); Fir (Mont.); 

 Oregon Pine (Oal., Wash., Oreg); Bed Pine (Utah, Idaho, Colo.); 

 Paget. Sound Pine (Wash.); Douglas-tree; Cork-barked Douglas 

 Spruce (var. suberosa Lemm.). 

 Pseudotsuga tasifolia pendula (Engelm.) Sudworth. 



Weeping Douglas Spruce 



VARIETIES' DISTINGUISHED IN CULTIVATION. 



Pseudotsuga taxifolia peudula caerulea Sudw. 

 Pseudotsuga taxifolia glauca (Beissn.) Sudw. 

 Pseudotsuga taxifolia fastigiata (Knight) Sudw. 



tko Abies taxifolia must be taken as original with Poiret, and is the first name in the 

 plant's history which could be considered tenable, as there is none other like it in. 

 form. Rafmesque, however, subsequently described the Douglas Spruce under still 

 another name, Abies mucronata (Atl. Journ., 120, 1832), which brings us to the point 

 of controversy. 



Xow, this tree at present being considered a Pseudotsuga, should bear its earliest 

 specific name in combination. It is here maintained that this combination should be 

 Pseudotsuga taxifolia (Poir.) Britton, founded on the first tenable name applied to 

 the plant, that is, Abies taxifolia Poiret (1. c). It is held by others, however, that 

 Pseudotsuga mucronata (Raf.) Sudworth should be maintained, as I myself did at one 

 time, to the exclusion of Pseudotsuga taxifolia. Those opposing the use of the latter 

 name base their objection ou the argument that it is founded on a synonym (Abies 

 taxifolia) derived from the homonym Pinus taxifolia Lambert (1803), which is, to be 

 snre, invalidated by Pinus taxifolia Salisbury (1796). Clearly Pinus taxifolia Lam- 

 bert (1803) is an inert name to which no derivative reference can be made. The sup- 

 position, however, that Abies taxifolia Poiret (1804), being founded or derived by 

 Poiret from the homonym Pinus taxifolia Lambert, renders the former name unten- 

 able, is believed to be an entirely erroneous interpretation of the meaning of the 

 law touching this mooted question. For, so far as is known, and independent of its 

 supposed derivation, Abies taxifolia Poiret (1804) is the first name in form of its kind 

 proposed, and is therefore inviolable. Moreover, the proof that Abies taxifolia Poiret 

 is actually derived from the homonym Pinus taxifolia Lambert, and therefore unten- 

 able, is faulty, because Lambert is quoted (by Poiret, 1. c.) as writing what he did 

 not write. But from still another point of view and disregarding the taxonomic 

 relationship of Pseudotsuga taxifolia with Abies taxifolia Poiret, were Pseudotsuga taxi- 

 folia not now in existence, no one could deny that according to present practice 

 the name could be created and applied for any other species of Pseudotsuga. It must 

 stand because it would be the first a-nd only one of its type published. For the same 

 reason the specific term taxifolia seems perfectly tenable for the Douglas Spruce, 

 as it conflicts with no other like specific or varietal term in the genus Pseudotsuga. 



It would appear that the essential point in the application of the law preventing 

 the use of duplicate or synonymous names and terms should be strictly a mechanical 

 one, regardless of any synthetic relationship which may exist between names. 



Prof. J. G. Lemmon has proposed the following varieties of the Douglas Spruce, 

 which are as yet unknown to me in nature: 



Pseudotsuga taxifolia var. suberosa Lemm. — Small tree, distinguished by its thick, 

 corky bark, thin foliage, and small ovate cones, 1 to 2 inches long, and found on the 

 principal mountains of northern Arizona and New Mexico. 



Pseudotsuga taxifolia var. elan gafa Lemm. — Distinguished by its "comparatively 

 thin, whitish (outside), shallow-farrowed bark and conspicuous, long, narrow, yel- 

 lowish, shins' cones, 3V to 4^ inches long and one-fifth as thick, Avith comparatively 

 short bracts and thin, so.'t scales." Found at base of Mount Hood, Oregon. 



PseudotsugamucronalaviXT. palustris Lemm (= Abies mucronafa\nT. palustris Raf.). — 

 Kafinesf|ue founded this form ou the following: " Grows in swamps, only 30 feet high, 

 and with spreading branches. " Said to occur in the region of the lower Columbia 

 River. 



