ABIES DOUGLASII. 
11 
conditions of the Mexican west range from the Californian and Oregon west range having operated to 
produce a change upon it. It may be said that if the climate of the west of Mexico has the effect of altering 
the type of the Oregon Abies Douglasii, so the climate of the interior should have had the effect of altering 
the Rocky Mountain type. To which we would reply:—i. That the amount of difference of condition will 
be obviously much greater between the moist coast ranges of comparatively small elevations of California, and 
the lofty and much drier tropical heights of Mexico, than would be between the drier Rocky Mountain 
elevations of 6000 and 10,000 feet, and the scarcely more lofty eastern mountains of Mexico ; and 2. That 
there has been some amount of change, for the tree which in the Rocky Mountains averaged from 80 to 100 
feet, in Mexico only reaches 30 or 40 feet. 
“A handsome tree,” says Mr Gordon, who doubtless obtained his information from Roezl, “growing 
from 30 to 40 feet high.” The diminution in size, however, appears to have been gradual. The height 
of the tree is given by Party, at Pikes Peak (N. lat. 39 0 ), as from 80 to 100 feet; by Bigelow, at 
San Francisco (N. lat. 35 0 ), as from 90 to 120 feet; by Bigelow, in New Mexico (N. lat. 32 0 ), 50 to 
100 feet; by Roezl, in Mexico (N. lat. 18 0 ), 30 to 40 feet. 
From the above facts we draw the conclusion, that there are two forms of A bies Douglasii, which are 
not intermingled, but occupy well-defined geographical areas, the one being confined to the ranges of moun¬ 
tains next the Pacific, the other to the inner range, or Rocky Mountains, and their continuation in Mexico, 
each of which, again, may possibly be divisible into two other sections—the American and the Mexican. 
History. —This species was first found by Menzies in Nootka Sound, when Vancouver stopped 
there in his celebrated voyage round the world (1790-1795), in which Menzies accompanied him as naturalist 
and surgeon. It was figured and imperfectly described by Fambert, under the name Abies taxifolia, from 
specimens of the foliage brought by Menzies; and these specimens are still preserved in the British Museum, 
the Museum having acquired Fambert’s collection after his death. No seeds were, however, brought by 
Menzies. Others, probably, had also found it, for Nuttall had specimens before Douglas. Specimens 
from him, also, are in the British Museum, and his MS. name for it was the characteristic one of 
A bies appendiculata. 
It was re-discovered by Douglas in 1827, when collecting for the Horticultural Society of Fondon, and 
anew described and figured with the cone by Sir William Hooker, under the name which it has since borne 
{Abies Douglasii). A plentiful supply of seed was then sent by him to the Horticultural Society, and 
distributed among its Fellows; and a number of trees, the oldest in Britain, scattered here and there 
throughout the country, are the produce of that first consignment. 
Its history, since Douglas found it, has been already told under the head “ Geographical Distribution,” 
with the exception that almost every fresh explorer or collector whom we have heard of, and doubtless 
many more that we do not know of, has sent home an additional supply of seed, either to his friends or for 
sale, so that now it is extensively cultivated and generally introduced. 
Although, therefore, we have little of its own history to tell beyond what we have already said as to its 
distribution, and shall presently say as to its properties, we think that the reader will feel that the account of 
its history would be incomplete, were we not to give some account of the discoverer whose name is 
indissolubly associated with it—the rather that a record of the places he visited may be convenient in tracing 
the distribution of other species. 
David Douglas was born at Scone, near Perth, in 1799. He was of humble but respectable parentage, 
his father, John Douglas, having been a stone-mason, a man possessed of good abilities and information 
superior to his sphere in life. Douglas was educated at the parish school of Kinnoul, kept by Mr Wilson, 
and early gave indication of his innate love for natural history and rambling propensities. A decided taste 
which he shewed for gardening and collecting plants caused him to be employed, at the age of ten or eleven 
years, in the common operations of the nursery-ground attached to the gardens of the Earl of Mansfield, 
under the superintendence of Mr Beattie ; and an anecdote is preserved of this epoch of his life, which 
[ 29 ] f shews 
