directed outwards, but point forwards parallel to the axis of the branchlet. In 4. concolor the leaves are entire at the apex, and their convex upper surface shows six- teen lines of stomata, and is without a groove; whereas, in A. Lowiana, the apex of the leaves is bifid, and their upper surface is grooved, showing eight lines of stomata. The buds are smaller in the latter species. (A.H.)
Distribution
Abies Lowiana is found on the Siskiyou Mountains in southern Oregon, and on Mt. Shasta and the Sierra Nevada ranges in California. Its northern limit is the dry interior of southern Oregon, near the divide between the headwaters of the Umpqua and Rogue rivers, which, according to Sargent, is the real northern boundary of the Californian flora.1 With Adzes magnifica it forms in great part one of the principal forest belts on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains for 450 miles, and extends from 4000 to gooo feet above sea-level. Here I saw it on my way into the Yosemite Valley in 1888, but did not then measure any trees. I found it in September 1904 in company with A. magnifica, Pinus ponderosa, and Pinus Lambertiana abundant on Mount Shasta, from about 3000 to 6000 feet ; and here it was of moderate size, the largest that I measured being 140 feet by 11 feet 8 inches. It attains, however, 200 to 250 feet on the Sierra Nevada, and as much as 200 feet in Oregon.
History and Cultivation
Abies Lowiana was introduced from the Sierra Nevada of California by William Lobb in 1851; and about the same time seeds were sent from southern Oregon by John Jeffrey, who collected for the Scottish Oregon Association. The plants raised from Lobb’s seeds were distributed by Messrs. Veitch of Exeter as Picea lasiocarpa, while those raised in Scotland from Jeffrey’s seeds were distributed as Picea grandis.”
Messrs. Parsons of Flushing, United States, received seeds from California in 1853; and plants raised from these were imported to England in 1855 by Messrs. Low of Clapton. These passed into commerce as Picea Parsonsiana, a name which first appeared in Barron’s Catalogue in 1859, and as Picea Lowiana, the name given by Gordon in 1862.
Of all the western silver firs this seems to be the most accommodating to the varied conditions of England, growing well on soils where A. nobilis will not thrive, and in a drier climate than A. grandis prefers. It is usually grown under the name of A. lasiocarpa, in the pineta which I have visited, and generally seen in good health and with a symmetrical top; as it is not so liable to become stunted by the production of cones as A. nobilis.
According to Sargent, the Californian form of A. concolor grows in the eastern
1 The fir named A. concolor by Plummer in his Report on the Mt. Rainier Forest Reserve, p. 101 (Washington, 1900), is evidently A. grandis, which he does not mention, and all his references to white fir no doubt relate to that species.
2 Cf. Hortus Veitchii, 39, 335 (1906).
