250 PRACTICAL FORESTKY. 



ABiES^ Tour. — Fir Tree. 



Evergreen trees and shrubs, with flat, somewhat two-ranked 

 leaves. Flowers monoecious, or male and female on the same 

 plant, but separate ; the male catkins axillary or terminal, the 

 female on very short branchlets. Cones cylindrical, erect, and 

 on the upper side of the branches. The scales of the cones fall 

 from the axis at maturity, not adhering and falling together as 

 in the Pines and Spruces. Seeds with very thin and somewhat 

 persistent wings. 



Abies balsamea^ Marshall. — Balsam Fu*, Balm of Gilead Fir. — 

 Leaves an inch long, or a little less, narrow and slender, spread- 

 ing, and slightly recurved, dark green above and silvery 

 beneath. Cones three to four inches long, cylindrical. Scales 

 broad, thin, smooth and rounded. Seeds angular, small. A 

 handsome tree when young, but soon loses its lower brancheSj 

 becoming rather naked and top-heavy. A modera>te sized tree, 

 usually growing thirty to forty feet high, but sometimes sixty 

 or seventy. Wood white, soft, and of little value. The liquid 

 resin, known as " Canada Balsam," is obtained from this spe- 

 cies. A common tree in cold, damp soils, from Canada south- 

 ward to Virginia, along the mountains. 



A. bracteata, Nutt. — Leafy-bracted Silver Fir. — Leaves two to 

 three inches long, linear, and crowded in two rows, flat, and 

 somewhat rigid, light green above, silvery beneath. Branches 

 in whorls, the lower ones drooping. Cones three or four inches 

 long, and about two in diameter, solitary, with roundish kid- 

 ney-shaped, rigid, and three-lobed bracts ; the middle one 

 nearly two inches long, slender and recurved, especially those 

 near the base of the cone ; the upper ones nearly straight. A 

 slender, but very tall tree, often reaching a hight of one hun- 

 dred feet, and sometimes more. Wood like that of all the firs, 

 and of little value. Found in Oregon, and southward in Cali- 

 fornia, in the Santa Lucia Mountains, at an elevation of from 

 three to six thousand feet. 



A. concolor, Lindl. — White Fir, Black Balsam. — Leaves two to 

 three inches long, mostly obtuse, but on young trees often 

 long-pointed, two-ranked, pale green, or silvery. Cones ob- 

 long, cylindrical, three to five inches long, and about an inch 

 and a half in diameter, pale green or purplish. Scales twice as 

 broad as high, bracts short, enclosed within the scales ; wing of 

 seed oblique and very persistent. Seeds about three-eighths of 



