488 
XCVII. CONIFERS 
7. ABIES. The Latin name for some kind of Fir. — N. tem- 
perate and arctic regions. 
Abies Pindrow, Spach ; FI. Br. Ind. v. 655. A large tree, 
in general outline resembling the Cypress ; bark dark grey, divided 
into long, narrow scales by deep, vertical grooves ; foliage very dark. 
Leaves flattened, linear, 1-3 in., stiff, single, spirally arranged round 
the branches but spreading more or less in one plane, narrowed 
into a short, twisted stalk, tip notched, upper surface dark green, 
shining, the lower with a silvery -white line along each side of the 
midrib. Male and female cones on the same tree. Male cones 
Fig. 160 . Picea Morinda. Fig. 161 . Abies Pindrow. 
| in., sessile, usually clustered ; stamens bearing 2 pocket-like 
receptacles each containing an anther-cell. Female cones terminal, 
solitary, ovoid ; bracts fringed, pointed, persistent. Mature cones 
ovoid, 4-6 X 1^-3 in., obtuse, nearly sessile, erect, dark purple 
when ripe ; scales thin, slightly thickened along the rounded 
margins between which the points of the bracts just appear. 
Seed J in., wing \ in., broad, rounded. The cones ripen in 
September and October of the year after flowering ; the bracts and 
scales fail off with the seeds leaving the naked axis of the cone 
remaining on the branches. (Fig. 161.) 
Mahasu, a few trees, Narkunda, common ; April. — N.W. Himalaya. 
Reduced in the FI. Br. Ind. to a variety of A. Webbiana, Spach, a tree that 
grows at higher elevations. — The foliage from a distance is almost black, whence 
the name Kola ban, black forest, which is applied to several localities in the 
N.W. Himalaya. 
