Distribution
On the north-west coast of America this magnificent tree has a wide range, from Vancouver Island, where it grows at low levels and is not, so far as I saw, a conspicuous feature in the forest; through Washington and Oregon as far south as Mendocino County in California, where it does not extend far from the coast, and grows in company with Seguoia sempervirens and Picea sitchensis.
Inland it is less abundant on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, but extends to the Coeur d’Alene and Bitter-root Mountains of Idaho and Montana. In the Flathead Lake Country it is a comparatively small tree, attaining only 12 to 15 inches in diameter, and ascending to about 3500 feet.
It reaches its maximum development in a damp climate and in sheltered valleys, where I have measured trees much over 200 feet in height, and where, according to Sargent and Sheldon, it sometimes reaches as much as 300 feet. So far as I saw, and Sargent confirms this observation, it never grows gregariously, but scattered among other species ; and rarely forms an important element in the timber.
It is easy to recognise when young by the flat arrangement of the leaves, but when its branches are far above one’s head I could not distinguish it from A. amabilis in the Cascade mountains, or from A. Lowiana which seems to take its place in southern Oregon and northern California.
It grows very fast in its own country, a specimen measured at 2500 feet altitude on the Cascade Mountains being 140 feet by 16 feet on the stump, at only 106 years old. Though the timber is not much valued by lumbermen, it is used for various purposes locally, and, according to Sheldon, makes the most durable shakes—a name used for large shingles cleft with the axe—used in Oregon.
The tree figured (Plate 218) was growing in 1904 on Swallowfield farm, about fifty miles north of Victoria, in Vancouver Island, and when I measured it, was 215 feet by 19 feet.
Abies grandis was discovered on the Columbia river by Douglas in 1825, though he does not seem to have sent seeds to the Horticultural Society until 1831 or 1832. Very few of these germinated, and it is doubtful if any of the original seedlings are still living.1 The next consignment? of seed was sent by William Lobb in 1851 to Messrs. Veitch at Exeter; and about the same time seeds were received by the Scottish Oregon Association from their collector Jeffrey.
Remarkable Trees
There are many fine trees of this species in the warmer and moister parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland ; and, with A. xoditis and A. Lowiana, it seems best suited of all the American firs to our climate.’
1 Murray, Proc. Roy. Hort. Soc. 311 (1863), states that there were then living no authentic seedling specimens of A. grandis raised from the seeds sent by Douglas, but a multitude of young plants existed which had been raised from cuttings.
2 Hortus Veitchii, 336 (1906).
3 The most vigorous of all the genus. Thrives admirably on gneiss, free from all trace of disease, is not susceptible to frosts or Chermes, and as a shade bearer has no equal amongst silver firs. Produces timber, which is white and somewhat soft, in great volume, and which is found useful in connection with box-making and other industries in Aberdeen. Specially adapted for cultivation for profit where a large volume of timber is a desideratum.—(J.D. Crozier.)
