Chapter VIII: Section 2: Gamopetalæ. Corolla of united petals (divided in Elliottia (3)

Leaves linear, triangular, rounded above, prominently keeled on the lower surface, ¾′—1¼′ long, bright green, conspicuously stomatiferous when they first appear; turning yellow and falling in September or October. Flowers: male subglobose and sessile; female oblong, with light-colored bracts produced into elongated green tips, and nearly orbicular rose-red scales. Fruit on stout incurved stems, subglobose, rather obtuse, ½′—¾′ long, composed of about 20 scales slightly erose on their nearly entire margins, rather longer than broad and twice as long as their bracts, bright chestnut-brown at maturity; usually falling during their second year; seeds ⅛′ long, about one third as long as their light chestnut-brown wings broadest near the middle and obliquely rounded at apex.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, small horizontal branches forming during the early life of the tree a narrow regular pyramidal head always characteristic of this tree when crowded in the forest, or with abundant space sweeping out in graceful curves, often becoming contorted and pendulous and forming a broad open frequently picturesque head, and slender leading branchlets often covered at first with a glaucous bloom, becoming light orange-brown during their first winter and conspicuous from the small globose dark red lustrous buds. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, separating into thin closely appressed rather bright reddish brown scales. Wood heavy, hard, very strong, rather coarse-grained, very durable, light brown; largely used for the upper knees of small vessels, fence-posts, telegraph-poles, and railway-ties.

Distribution. At the north often on well-drained uplands, southward in cold deep swamps which it often clothes with forests of closely crowded trees, from Labrador to the Arctic Circle, ranging west of the Rocky Mountains to latitude 65° 35′ north, and southward through Canada and the northern states to northern and eastern Pennsylvania, Garrett County, Maryland (Oakland to Thayerville), and Preston County, West Virginia (Cranesville Swamp), northern Indiana and Illinois, and northeastern Minnesota; along the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains to about latitude 53° and between the Yukon River and Cook Inlet, Alaska (_Larix alaskensis_ Wight.); very abundant in the interior of Labrador, where it is the largest tree; common along the margins of the barren lands stretching beyond the sub-Arctic forest to the shores of the Arctic Sea; attaining its largest size north of Lake Winnipeg on low benches which it occasionally covers with open forests; on the eastern slopes of the northern Rocky Mountains usually at elevation from 600°—1700° above the sea; rare and local toward the southern limits of its range.

Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree in the northeastern states, growing rapidly and attaining in cultivation a large size and picturesque habit.

2. Larix occidentalis Nutt. Tamarack.

Leaves triangular, rounded on the back, conspicuously keeled below, rigid, sharp-pointed, 1′—1¾′ long, about 1/32′ wide, light pale green, turning pale yellow early in the autumn. Flowers: male short-oblong; female oblong, nearly sessile, with orbicular scales and bracts produced into elongated tips. Fruit oblong, short-stalked, 1′—1½′ long, with numerous thin stiff scales nearly entire and sometimes a little reflexed on their margins, much shorter than their bracts, more or less thickly coated on the lower surface below the middle with hoary tomentum, and standing after the escape of the seeds at right angles to the axis of the cone, or often becoming reflexed; seeds nearly ¼′ long, with a pale brown shell, one half to two thirds as long as the thin fragile pale wings broadest near the middle and obliquely rounded at apex.

A tree, sometimes 180° high, with a tall tapering naked trunk 6°—8° in diameter, or on dry soil and exposed mountain slopes usually not more than 100° tall, with a short narrow pyramidal head of small branches clothed with scanty foliage, or occasionally with a larger crown of elongated drooping branches, stout branchlets covered when they first appear with soft pale pubescence, usually soon glabrous, bright orange-brown in their first year, ultimately becoming dark gray-brown, and dark chestnut-brown winter-buds about ⅛′ in diameter. Bark of young stems thin, dark-colored and scaly, becoming near the base of old trunks 5′ or 6′ thick and broken into irregularly shaped oblong plates often 2° long and covered with thin closely appressed light cinnamon-red scales. Wood very heavy, exceedingly hard and strong, close-grained, very durable in contact with the soil, bright light red, with thin nearly white sapwood; largely used for railway-ties and fence-posts, and manufactured into lumber used in cabinet-making and the interior finish of buildings.

Distribution. Moist bottom-lands and on high benches and dry mountain sides generally at elevations between 2000° and 7000° above sea-level, usually singly or in small groves, through the basin of the upper Columbia River from southern British Columbia to the western slopes of the continental divide of northern Montana, and to the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains of Washington and northern Oregon; most abundant and of its largest size on the bottom-lands of streams flowing into Flat Head Lake in northern Montana, and in northern Idaho.

Occasionally planted in the eastern states and in Europe, but in cultivation showing little promise of attaining a large size or becoming a valuable ornamental or timber-tree.

3. Larix Lyallii Parl. Tamarack.

Leaves 4-angled, rigid, short-pointed, pale blue-green, 1′—1½′ long. Flowers: male short-oblong; female ovoid-oblong, with dark red or occasionally pale yellow-green scales and dark purple bracts abruptly contracted into elongated slender tips. Fruit ovoid, rather acute, 1½′—2′ long, subsessile or raised on a slender stalk coated with hoary tomentum, with dark reddish purple or rarely green erose scales, fringed and covered on their lower surface with matted hairs at maturity spreading nearly at right angles and finally much reflexed, much shorter than their dark purple very conspicuous long-tipped bracts; seeds full and rounded on the sides, ⅛′ long and about half as long as their light red lustrous wings broadest near the base with nearly parallel sides.

A tree, usually 25°—50° high, with a trunk generally 18′—20′ but rarely 3°—4° in diameter, and remote elongated exceedingly tough persistent branches sometimes pendulous, developing very irregularly and often abruptly ascending at the extremities, stout branchlets coated with hoary tomentum usually persistent until after their second winter, ultimately becoming nearly black, and prominent winter-buds with conspicuous long white matted hairs fringing the margins of their scales and often almost entirely covering the bud. Bark of young trees and of the branches thin, rather lustrous, smooth, and pale gray tinged with yellow, becoming loose and scaly on larger stems and on the large branches of old trees, and on fully grown trunks ½′—¾′ thick and slightly divided by shallow fissures into irregularly shaped plates covered by thin dark-red brown loosely attached scales. Wood heavy, hard, coarse-grained, light reddish brown.

Distribution. Near the timber-line on mountain slopes at elevations of 4000°—8000°, from southern Alberta on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and from the interior of southern British Columbia, southward along the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains of northern Washington to Mt. Stewart at the head of the north fork of the Yakima River, and along the continental divide to the middle fork of Sun River, Montana, forming here a forest of considerable size at elevations of 7000°—8000°, and on the Bitter Root Mountains to the headwaters of the south fork of the Clearwater River, Idaho.

3. PICEA Dietr. Spruce.

Pyramidal trees, with tall tapering trunks often stoutly buttressed at the base, thin scaly bark, soft pale wood containing numerous resin-canals, slender whorled twice or thrice ramified branches, their ultimate divisions stout, glabrous or pubescent, and leaf-buds usually in 3’s, the 2 lateral in the axils of upper leaves. Leaves linear, spirally disposed, extending out from the branch on all sides or occasionally appearing 2-ranked by the twisting of those on its lower side, mostly pointing to the end of the branch, entire, articulate on prominent persistent rhomboid ultimately woody bases, keeled above and below, 4-sided and stomatiferous on the 4 sides, or flattened and stomatiferous on the upper and occasionally on the lower side, persistent from seven to ten years, deciduous in drying. Flowers terminal or in the axils of upper leaves, the male usually long-stalked, composed of numerous spirally arranged anthers with connectives produced into broad nearly circular toothed crests, the female oblong, oval or cylindric, with rounded or pointed scales, each in the axis of an accrescent bract shorter than the scale at maturity. Fruit an ovoid or oblong, cylindric pendant cone, crowded on the upper branches or in some species scattered over the upper half of the tree. Seeds ovoid or oblong, usually acute at base, much shorter than their wings; outer seed-coat crustaceous, light or dark brown, the inner membranaceous, pale chestnut-brown; cotyledons 4—15.

Picea is widely distributed through the colder and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, some species forming great forests on plains and high mountain slopes. Thirty-seven species are now recognized, ranging from the Arctic Circle to the slopes of the southern Appalachian Mountains and to those of northern New Mexico and Arizona in the New World, and to central and southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, western China, Formosa and Japan. Of exotic species the so-called Norway Spruce, _Picea Abies_ Karst., one of the most valuable timber-trees of Europe, has been largely planted for ornament and shelter in the eastern states, where the Caucasian _Picea orientalis_ Carr., and some of the Japanese species also flourish.

_Picea_ was probably the classical name of the Spruce-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Leaves 4-sided, with stomata on the 4 sides.
Cone-scales rounded at apex.
Cone-scales stiff and rigid at maturity; branchlets pubescent.
Cones ovoid on strongly incurved stalks, persistent for many
years, their scales erose or dentate; leaves blue-green.
1. P. mariana (A, B, F).
Cones ovoid-oblong, early deciduous, their scales entire or
denticulate; leaves dark yellow-green.
2. P. rubra (A).
Cone-scales soft and flexible at maturity; branchlets glabrous;
cones oblong-cylindric, slender, their scales entire; leaves
blue-green.
3. P. glauca (A, B, F).
Cone-scales truncate or acute at apex, oblong or rhombic; leaves
blue-green.
Cones oblong-cylindric or ellipsoidal; branchlets pubescent;
leaves soft and flexible.
4. P. Engelmannii (F, B, G).
Cones oblong-cylindric; branchlets glabrous; leaves rigid,
spinescent.
5. P. pungens (F).
Leaves flattened, usually with stomata only on the upper surface;
cone-scales rounded.
Cone-scales ovate, entire; branchlets pubescent; cones ellipsoidal,
leaves obtuse.
6. P. Breweriana (G).
Cone-scales elliptic, denticulate above the middle; branchlets
glabrous; cones oblong-cylindric, leaves acute or acuminate,
with stomata occasionally on the lower surface.
7. P. sitchensis (B, G).

1. Picea mariana B. S. P. Black Spruce.

Leaves slightly incurved above the middle, abruptly contracted at apex into short callous tips, pale blue-green and glaucous at maturity, ¼′—¾′ long, hoary on the upper surface from the broad bands of stomata, and lustrous and slightly stomatiferous on the lower surface. Flowers: male subglobose, with dark red anthers; female oblong-cylindric, with obovate purple scales rounded above, and oblong purple glaucous bracts rounded and denticulate at apex. Fruit ovoid, pointed, gradually narrowed at the base into short strongly incurved stalks, ½′—1½′ long, with rigid puberulous scales rounded or rarely somewhat pointed at apex and more or less erose on the notched pale margins, turning as they ripen dull gray-brown and becoming as the scales gradually open and slowly discharge their seeds almost globose; sometimes remaining on the branches for twenty or thirty years, the oldest close to the base of the branches near the trunk; seeds oblong, narrowed to the acute base, about ⅛′ long, very dark brown, with delicate pale brown wings broadest above the middle, very oblique at the apex, about ½′ long, ⅛′ wide.

A tree, usually 20°—30° and occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 6′—12′ and rarely 3° in diameter, and comparatively short branches generally pendulous with upward curves, forming an open irregular crown, light green branchlets coated with pale pubescence, soon beginning to grow darker, and during their first winter light cinnamon-brown and covered with short rusty pubescence, their thin brown bark gradually becoming glabrous and beginning to break into small thin scales during their second year; at the extreme north sometimes cone-bearing when only 2°—3° high. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, light reddish brown, puberulous, about ⅛′ long. Bark ¼′—½′ thick and broken on the surface into thin rather closely appressed gray-brown scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, pale yellow-white, with thin sapwood; probably rarely used outside of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, except in the manufacture of paper pulp. Spruce-gum, the resinous exudations of the Spruce-trees of northeastern America, is gathered in considerable quantities principally in northern New England and Canada, and is used as a masticatory. Spruce-beer is made by boiling the branches of the Black and Red Spruces.

Distribution. At the north on well-drained bottom-lands and the slopes of barren stony hills, and southward in sphagnum-covered bogs, swamps, and on their borders, from Labrador to the valley of the Mackenzie River in about latitude 65° north, and, crossing the Rocky Mountains, through the interior of Alaska to the valley of White River; southward through Newfoundland, the maritime provinces, eastern Canada and the northeastern United States to central Pennsylvania, and along the Alleghany Mountains to northern Virginia; and from the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, through northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba, and south to northeastern and northern Minnesota, and central Wisconsin and Michigan; very abundant at the far north and the largest coniferous tree of Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba, covering here large areas and growing to its largest size; common in Newfoundland and all the provinces of eastern Canada except southern Ontario; in the United States less abundant, of small size, and usually only in cold sphagnum swamps (var. _brevifolia_ Rehd.)

Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree, the Black Spruce is short-lived in cultivation and one of the least desirable of all Spruce-trees for the decoration of parks and gardens.

2. Picea rubra Link. Red Spruce.

_Picea rubens_ Sarg.

Leaves more or less incurved above the middle, acute or rounded and furnished at the apex with short callous points, dark green often slightly tinged with yellow, very lustrous, marked on the upper surface by 4 rows and on the lower less conspicuously by 2 rows of stomata on each side of the prominent midrib, ½′—⅝′ long, nearly 1/16′ wide. Flowers: male oval, almost sessile, bright red; female oblong-cylindric, with thin rounded scales reflexed and slightly erose on their margins, and obovate bracts rounded and laciniate above. Fruit on very short straight or incurved stalks, ovoid-oblong, gradually narrowed from near the middle to the acute apex, 1¼′—2′ long, with rigid puberulous scales entire or slightly toothed at the apex; bright green or green somewhat tinged with purple when fully grown, becoming light reddish brown and lustrous at maturity, beginning to fall as soon as the scales open in the autumn or early winter, and generally disappearing from the branches the following summer; seeds dark brown, about ⅛′ long, with short broad wings full and rounded above the middle.

A tree, usually 70°—80° and occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, branches long-persistent on the stem and clothing it to the ground, forming a narrow rather conical head, or soon disappearing below from trees crowded in the forest, stout pubescent light green branchlets, becoming bright reddish brown or orange-brown during their first winter, glabrous the following year, and covered in their third or fourth year with scaly bark. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ¼′—⅓′ long, with light reddish brown scales. Bark ¼′—½′ thick, and broken into thin closely appressed irregularly shaped red-brown scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, not strong, pale slightly tinged with red, with paler sapwood usually about 2′ thick; largely manufactured into lumber in the northeastern states, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and used for the flooring and construction of houses, for the sounding-boards of musical instruments, and in the manufacture of paper-pulp.

Distribution. Well-drained uplands and mountain slopes, often forming a large part of extensive forests, from Prince Edward Island and the valley of the St. Lawrence southward to the coast of Massachusetts, along the interior hilly part of New England, New York, and northern Pennsylvania and on the slopes of the Alleghany Mountains at elevations above 2500 feet from West Virginia to North Carolina and Tennessee.

Occasionally planted in the eastern states and in Europe as an ornamental tree, but growing in cultivation more slowly than any other Spruce-tree.

3. Picea glauca Voss. White Spruce.

_Picea canadensis_ B. S. P.

Leaves crowded on the upper side of the branches by the twisting of those on the lower side, incurved, acute or acuminate with rigid callous tips, pale blue and hoary when they first appear, becoming dark blue-green or pale blue, marked on each of the 4 sides by 3 or 4 rows of stomata, ⅓′—¾′ long. Flowers: male pale red, soon appearing yellow from the thick covering of pollen; female oblong-cylindric, with round nearly entire pale red or yellow-green scales, broader than long, and nearly orbicular denticulate bracts. Fruit nearly sessile or borne on short thin straight stems, oblong-cylindric, slender, slightly narrowed to the ends, rather obtuse at apex, usually about 2′ long, pale green sometimes tinged with red when fully grown, becoming at maturity pale brown and lustrous, with nearly orbicular scales, rounded, truncate, and slightly emarginate, or rarely narrowed at apex, and very thin, flexible and elastic at maturity, usually deciduous in the autumn or during the following winter; seeds about ⅛′ long, pale brown, with narrow wings gradually widened from the base to above the middle and very oblique at the apex.

A tree, with disagreeable smelling foliage, rarely more than 60°—70° tall, with a trunk not more than 2° in diameter, long comparatively thick branches densely clothed with stout rigid laterals sweeping out in graceful upward curves, and forming a broad-based rather open pyramid often obtuse at the apex, stout glabrous branchlets orange-brown during their first autumn and winter, gradually growing darker grayish brown. Winter-buds broadly ovoid, obtuse, covered by light chestnut-brown scales with thin often reflexed ciliate margins. Bark ¼′—½′ thick, separating irregularly into thin plate-like light gray scales more or less tinged with brown. Wood light, soft, not strong, straight-grained light yellow, with hardly distinguishable sapwood; manufactured into lumber in the eastern provinces of Canada and in Alaska, and used in construction, for the interior finish of buildings, and for paper-pulp.

Distribution. Banks and borders of streams and lakes, ocean cliffs, and in the north the rocky slopes of low hills, from Labrador along the northern frontier of the forest nearly to the shores of the Arctic Sea, reaching Behring Strait in 66° 44′ north latitude, and southward down the Atlantic coast to southern Maine, northern New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, shores of Saginaw Bay, Michigan, northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and through the interior of Alaska.

The variety (var. _albertiana_ Sarg.) of the Gaspé Peninsula and the valleys of the Black Hills of South Dakota and of the Rocky Mountains of northern Wyoming, Montana, Alberta and northward, is a tree with a narrow pyramidal head, sometimes 150° high, with a trunk 3° to 4° in diameter, and shorter and rather broader cones than those of the typical White Spruce of the east, although not shorter or as short as the cones of that tree in the extreme north.

Often planted in Canada, northern New England, and northern Europe as an ornamental tree; in southern New England and southward suffering from heat and dryness.

4. Picea Engelmannii Engelm. White Spruce. Engelmann Spruce.

Leaves soft and flexible, with acute callous tips, slender, nearly straight or slightly incurved on vigorous sterile branches, stouter, shorter, and more incurved on fertile branches, 1′—1⅛′ long, marked on each face by 3—5 rows of stomata, covered at first with a glaucous bloom, soon becoming dark blue-green or pale steel-blue. Flowers: male dark purple; female bright scarlet, with pointed or rounded and more or less divided scales, and oblong bracts rounded or acute or acuminate and denticulate at apex or obovate-oblong and abruptly acuminate. Fruit oblong-cylindric to ellipsoidal, gradually narrowed to the ends, usually about 2′ long, sessile or very short-stalked, produced in great numbers on the upper branches, horizontal and ultimately pendulous, light green somewhat tinged with scarlet when fully grown, becoming light chestnut-brown and lustrous, with thin flexible slightly concave scales, generally erose-dentate or rarely almost entire on the margins, usually broadest at the middle, wedge-shaped below, and gradually contracted above into a truncate or acute apex, or occasionally obovate and rounded above; mostly deciduous in the autumn or early in their first winter soon after the escape of the seeds; seeds obtuse at the base, nearly black, about ⅛′ long and much shorter than their broad very oblique wings.

A tree, with disagreeable smelling foliage sometimes 120° high, with a trunk 3° in diameter, spreading branches produced in regular whorls and forming a narrow compact pyramidal head, gracefully hanging short lateral branches, and comparatively slender branchlets pubescent for three or four years, light or dark orange-brown or gray tinged with brown during their first winter, their bark beginning to separate into small flaky scales in their fourth or fifth year; at its highest altitudes low and stunted with elongated branches pressed close to the ground. Winter-buds conic or slightly obtuse, with pale chestnut-brown scales scarious and often free and slightly reflexed on the margins. Bark ¼′—½′ thick, light cinnamon-red, and broken into large thin loose scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, close-grained, pale yellow tinged with red, with thick hardly distinguishable sapwood; largely manufactured into lumber used in the construction of buildings; also employed for fuel and charcoal. The bark is sometimes employed in tanning leather.

Distribution. High mountain slopes, often forming great forests from the mountains of Alberta, British Columbia and Alaska, southward over the interior mountain systems of the continent to southern New Mexico (the Sacramento Mountains) and northern Arizona, from elevations of 5000° at the north up to 11,500° and occasionally to 12,000° at the south, and westward through Montana and Idaho to the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon; attaining its greatest size and beauty north of the northern boundary of the United States.

Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree in the New England states and northern Europe, where it grows vigorously and promises to attain a large size; usually injured in western Europe by spring frosts.

5. Picea pungens Englm. Blue Spruce. Colorado Spruce.

_Picea Parryana_ Sarg.

Leaves strongly incurved, especially those on the upper side of the branches, stout, rigid, acuminate and tipped with long callous sharp points, 1′—1⅛′ long on sterile branches, often not more than half as long on the fertile branches of old trees, marked on each side by 4—7 rows of stomata, dull bluish green on some individuals and light or dark steel-blue or silvery white on others, the blue colors gradually changing to dull blue-green at the end of three or four years. Flowers: male yellow tinged with red; female with broad oblong or slightly obovate pale green scales truncate or slightly emarginate at the denticulate apex, and acute bracts. Fruit produced on the upper third of the tree, sessile or short-stalked, oblong-cylindric, slightly narrowed at the ends, usually about 3′ long, green more or less tinged with red when fully grown at midsummer, becoming pale chestnut-brown and lustrous, with flat tough rhombic scales flexuose on the margins, and acute, rounded or truncate at the elongated erose apex; seeds ⅛′ long or about half the length of their wings, gradually widening to above the middle and full and rounded at apex.

A tree, usually 80°—100° or occasionally 150° high, with a trunk rarely 3° in diameter and occasionally divided into 3 or 4 stout secondary stems, rigid horizontal branches disposed on young trees in remote whorls and decreasing regularly in length from below upward, the short stout stiff branchlets pointing forward and making flat-topped masses of foliage; branches on old trees short and remote, with stout lateral branches forming a thin ragged pyramidal crown; branchlets stout, rigid, glabrous, pale glaucous green, becoming bright orange-brown during the first winter and ultimately light grayish brown. Winter-buds stout, obtuse or rarely acute, ¼′—½′ long, with thin pale chestnut-brown scales usually reflexed on the margins. Bark of young trees gray or gray tinged with cinnamon-red and broken into small oblong plate-like scales, becoming on the lower part of old trunks ¾′—1½′ thick and deeply divided into broad rounded ridges covered with small closely appressed pale gray or occasionally bright cinnamon-red scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, weak, pale brown or often nearly white, with hardly distinguishable sapwood.

Distribution. Banks of streams or on the first benches above them singly or in small groves at elevations between 6500° and 11,000° above the sea; Colorado and eastern Utah northward to the northern end of the Medicine Bow Mountains and on the Laramie Range in southern and on the Shoshone and Teton Mountains in northwestern Wyoming, and southward into northern New Mexico (Sierra Bianca, alt. 8000°—11,000°, Sacramento Mountains, Pecos River National Forest).

Often planted as an ornamental tree in the eastern and northern states and in western and northern Europe, especially individuals with blue foliage; very beautiful in early life but in cultivation soon becoming unsightly from the loss of the lower branches.

6. Picea Breweriana S. Wats. Weeping Spruce.

Leaves abruptly narrowed and obtuse at apex, straight or slightly incurved, rounded and obscurely ridged and dark green and lustrous on the lower surface, flattened and conspicuously marked on the upper surface by 4 or 5 rows of stomata on each side of the prominent midrib, ¾′—1⅛′ long, 1/16′—1/10′ wide. Flowers: male dark purple; female oblong-cylindric, with obovate scales rounded above and reflexed on the entire margins, and oblong bracts laciniately divided at their rounded or acute apex. Fruit ellipsoidal, gradually narrowed from the middle to the ends, acute at apex, rather oblique at base, suspended on straight slender stalks, deep rich purple or green more or less tinged with purple when fully grown, becoming light orange-brown, 2′—4′ long, with thin broadly ovate flat scales longer than broad, rounded at apex, opening late in the autumn after the escape of the seeds, often becoming strongly reflexed and very flexible; usually remaining on the branches until their second winter; seeds acute at base, full and rounded on the sides, ⅛′ long, dark brown, and about one quarter the length of their wings broadest toward the full and rounded apex.

A tree, usually 80°—100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter above the swelling of its enlarged and gradually tapering base, and furnished to the ground with crowded branches, those at the top of the tree short and slightly ascending, with comparatively short pendulous lateral branches, those lower on the tree horizontal or pendulous and clothed with slender flexible whip-like laterals often 7°—8° long and not more than ¼′ thick and furnished with numerous long thin lateral branchlets, their ultimate divisions slender, coated with fine pubescence persistent until their third season, bright red-brown during their first winter, gradually growing dark gray-brown. Winter-buds conic, light chestnut-brown, ¼′ long and ⅛′ thick. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, broken into long thin closely appressed scales dull red-brown on the surface. Wood heavy, soft, close-grained, light brown or nearly white, with thick hardly distinguishable sapwood.

Distribution. Dry mountain ridges and peaks near the timber-line on both slopes of the Siskiyou Mountains on the boundary between California and Oregon, forming small groves at elevations of about 7000° above the sea; on a high peak west of Marble Mountain in Siskiyou County, California; on the coast ranges of southwestern Oregon at elevations of 4000°—5000°.

7. Picea sitchensis Carr. Tideland Spruce. Sitka Spruce.

Leaves standing out from all sides of the branches and often nearly at right angles to them, frequently bringing their white upper surface to view by a twist at their base, straight or slightly incurved, acute or acuminate with long callous tips, slightly rounded, green, lustrous, and occasionally marked on the lower surface with 2 or 3 rows of small conspicuous stomata on each side of the prominent midrib, flattened, obscurely ridged and almost covered with broad silvery white bands of numerous rows of stomata on the upper surface, ½′—1⅛′ long and 1/16′—1/12′ wide, mostly persistent 9—11 years. Flowers: male at the ends of the pendant lateral branchlets, dark red; female on rigid terminal shoots of the branches of the upper half of the tree, with nearly orbicular denticulate scales, often slightly truncate above and completely hidden by their elongated acuminate bracts. Fruit oblong-cylindric, short-stalked, yellow-green often tinged with dark red when fully grown, becoming lustrous and pale yellow or reddish brown, 2½′—4′ long, with thin stiff elliptic scales rounded toward the apex, denticulate above the middle, and nearly twice as long as their lanceolate denticulate bracts; deciduous mostly during their first autumn and winter; seeds full and rounded, acute at the base, pale reddish brown, about ⅛′ long, with narrow oblong slightly oblique wings ⅓′—½′ in length.

A tree, usually about 100° high, with a conspicuously tapering trunk often 3°—4° in diameter above its strongly buttressed and much-enlarged base, occasionally 200° tall, with a trunk 15°—16° in diameter, horizontal branches forming an open loose pyramid and on older trees clothed with slender pendant lateral branches frequently 2°—3° long, and stout rigid glabrous branchlets pale green at first, becoming dark or light orange-brown during their first autumn and winter and finally dark gray-brown; at the extreme northwestern limits of its range occasionally reduced to a low shrub. Winter-buds ovoid, acute or conical, ¼′—½′ long, with pale chestnut-brown acute scales, often tipped with short points and more or less reflexed above the middle. Bark ¼′—½′ thick and broken on the surface into large thin loosely attached dark red-brown or on young trees sometimes bright cinnamon-red scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, straight-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick nearly white sapwood; largely manufactured into lumber used in the interior finish of buildings, for fencing, boat-building, aeroplanes, cooperage, wooden-ware, and packing-cases.

Distribution. Moist sandy, often swampy soil, or less frequently at the far north on wet rocky slopes, from the eastern end of Kadiak Island, southward through the coast region of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon to Mendocino County, California; in Washington, occasionally ranging inland to the upper valley of the Nesqually River.

Often planted in western and central Europe and occasionally in the middle Atlantic states as an ornamental tree.

4. TSUGA Carr. Hemlock.

Tall pyramidal trees, with deeply furrowed astringent bark bright cinnamon-red except on the surface, soft pale wood, nodding leading shoots, slender scattered horizontal often pendulous branches, the secondary branches three or four times irregularly pinnately ramified, with slender round glabrous or pubescent ultimate divisions, the whole forming graceful pendant masses of foliage, and minute winter-buds. Leaves flat or angular, obtuse and often emarginate or acute at apex, spirally disposed, usually appearing almost 2-ranked by the twisting of their petioles, those on the upper side of the branch then much shorter than the others, abruptly narrowed into short petioles jointed on ultimately woody persistent bases, with stomata on the lower surface; on one species not 2-ranked, and of nearly equal length, with stomata on both surfaces. Flowers solitary, the male in the axils of leaves of the previous year, globose, composed of numerous subglobose anthers, with connectives produced into short gland-like tips, the female terminal, erect, with nearly circular scales slightly longer or shorter than their membranaceous bracts. Fruit an ovoid-oblong, oval, or oblong-cylindric obtuse usually pendulous nearly sessile green or rarely purple cone becoming light or dark reddish brown, with concave suborbicular or ovate-oblong scales thin and entire on the margins, much longer than their minute bracts, persistent on the axis of the cone after the escape of the seeds. Seeds furnished with resin-vesicles, ovoid-oblong, compressed, nearly surrounded by their much longer obovate-oblong wings; outer seed-coat crustaceous, light brown, the inner membranaceous, pale chestnut-brown, and lustrous; cotyledons 3—6, much shorter than the inferior radicle.

Tsuga is confined to temperate North America, Japan, central and southwestern China, Formosa, and the Himalayas; nine species have been distinguished.

_Tsuga_ is the Japanese name of the Hemlock-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Leaves flat, obtuse or emarginate at apex, with stomata only on the
lower surface; cones ovoid, oblong or oblong-ovoid.
Cones stalked.
Cone-scales broad-obovate, about as wide as long, their bracts
broad and truncate.
1. T. canadensis (A).
Cone-scales narrow-oval, much longer than wide, their bracts
obtusely pointed.
2. T. caroliniana (A).
Cones sessile; cone-scales oval, often abruptly contracted near the
middle, their bracts gradually narrowed to an obtuse point.
3. T. heterophylla (B, F, G).
Leaves convex or keeled above, bluntly pointed, with stomata on both
surfaces; cones oblong-cylindric, their scales oblong-obovate,
longer than broad, much longer than their acuminate
short-pointed bracts.
4. T. Mertensiana (B, F, G).

1. Tsuga canadensis Carr. Hemlock.

Leaves, rounded and rarely emarginate at apex, dark yellow-green, lustrous and obscurely grooved especially toward the base on the upper surface, marked on the lower surface by 5 or 6 rows of stomata on each side of the low broad midrib, ⅓′—⅔′ long, about 1/16′ wide, deciduous in their third season from dark orange-colored persistent bases. Flowers: male light yellow; female pale green, with broad bracts coarsely laciniate on the margins and shorter than their scales. Fruit on slender puberulous stalks often ¼′ long, ovoid, acute, ½′—¾′ long, with broad-obovate scales almost as wide as long, and broad truncate bracts slightly laciniate on the margins, opening and gradually losing their seeds during the winter and mostly persistent on the branches until the following spring; seeds 1/16′ long, usually with 2 or 3 large oil-vesicles, nearly half as long as their wings broad at the base and gradually tapering to the rounded apex.

A tree, usually 60°—70°, and occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 2°—4° in diameter, gradually and conspicuously tapering toward the apex, long slender horizontal or pendulous branches, persistent until overshadowed by other trees, and forming a broad-based rather obtuse pyramid, and slender light yellow-brown pubescent branchlets, growing darker during their first winter and glabrous and dark red-brown tinged with purple in their third season. Winter-buds obtuse, light chestnut-brown, slightly puberulous, about 1/16′ long. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, deeply divided into narrow rounded ridges covered with thick closely appressed scales varying from cinnamon-red to gray more or less tinged with purple. Wood light, soft, not strong, brittle, coarse-grained, difficult to work, liable to wind-shake and splinter, not durable when exposed to the air, light brown tinged with red, with thin somewhat darker sapwood; largely manufactured into coarse lumber employed for the outside finish of buildings. The astringent inner bark affords the largest part of the material used in the northeastern states and Canada in tanning leather. From the young branches oil of hemlock is distilled.

Distribution. Scattered through upland forests and often covering the northern slopes of rocky ridges and the steep rocky banks of narrow river-gorges from Nova Scotia to eastern Minnesota (Carleton County), and southward through the northern states to Newcastle County, Delaware, cliffs of Tuckahoe Creek, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland, southern Michigan, southern Indiana (bank of Back Creek near Leesville, Laurence County), southwestern Wisconsin, and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia, and in northern Alabama; most abundant and frequently an important element of the forest in New England, northern New York, and western Pennsylvania; attaining its largest size near streams on the slopes of the high mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.

Largely cultivated with numerous seminal varieties as an ornamental tree in the northern states, and in western and central Europe.

2. Tsuga caroliniana Engelm. Hemlock.

Leaves retuse or often emarginate at apex, dark green, lustrous and conspicuously grooved on the upper surface, marked on the lower surface by a band of 7 or 8 rows of stomata on each side of the midrib, ⅓′—¾′ long, about 1/12′ wide, deciduous from the orange-red bases during their fifth year. Flowers: male tinged with purple; female purple, with broadly ovate bracts, scarious and erose on the margins and about as long as their scales. Fruit on short stout stalks, oblong, 1′—1½′ long, with narrow-oval scales gradually narrowed and rounded at apex, rather abruptly contracted at base into distinct stipes, thin, concave, puberulous on the outer surface, twice as long as their broad pale bracts, spreading nearly at right angles to the axis of the cone at maturity, their bracts rather longer than wide, wedge-shaped, pale, nearly truncate or slightly pointed at the broad apex; seeds ⅙′ long, with numerous small oil-vesicles on the lower side, and one quarter as long as the pale lustrous wings broad or narrow at the base and narrowed to the rounded apex.

A tree, usually 40°—50°, or occasionally 70° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 2° in diameter, short stout often pendulous branches forming a handsome compact pyramidal head, and slender light orange-brown pubescent branchlets, usually becoming glabrous and dull brown more or less tinged with orange during their third year. Winter-buds obtuse, dark chestnut-brown, pubescent, nearly ⅛′ long. Bark of the trunk ¾′—1¼′ thick, red-brown, and deeply divided into broad flat connected ridges covered with thin closely appressed plate-like scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, brittle, coarse-grained, pale brown tinged with red, with thin nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Rocky banks of streams usually at elevations between 2500° and 3000° on the Blue Ridge from southwestern Virginia to northern Georgia, generally singly or in small scattered groves of a few individuals.

Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree in the northern states, and in western Europe.

3. Tsuga heterophylla Sarg. Hemlock.

Leaves rounded at apex, conspicuously grooved, dark green and very lustrous on the upper surface, marked below by broad white bands of 7—9 rows of stomata, abruptly contracted at the base into slender petioles, ¼′—¾′ long and 1/16′—1/12′ wide, mostly persistent 4—7 years. Flowers: male yellow; female purple and puberulous, with broad bracts gradually narrowed to an obtuse point and shorter than their broadly ovate slightly scarious scales. Fruit oblong-ovoid, acute, sessile, ¾′—1′ long, with slightly puberulous oval scales, often abruptly narrowed near the middle, and dark purple puberulous bracts rounded and abruptly contracted at apex; seeds ⅛′ long, furnished with occasional oil-vesicles, one third to one half as long as their narrow wings.

A tree, frequently 200° high, with a tall trunk 6°—10° in diameter, and short slender usually pendulous branches forming a narrow pyramidal head, and slender pale yellow-brown branchlets ultimately becoming dark reddish brown, coated at first with long pale hairs, and pubescent or puberulous for five or six years. Winter-buds ovoid, bright chestnut-brown, about 1/16′ long. Bark on young trunks thin, dark orange-brown, and separated by shallow fissures into narrow flat plates broken into delicate scales, becoming on fully grown trees 1′—1½′ thick and deeply divided into broad flat connected ridges covered with closely appressed brown scales more or less tinged with cinnamon-red. Wood light, hard and tough, pale brown tinged with yellow, with thin nearly white sapwood; stronger and more durable than the wood of the other American hemlocks; now largely manufactured into lumber used principally in the construction of buildings. The bark is used in large quantities in tanning leather; from the inner bark the Indians of Alaska obtain one of their principal articles of vegetable food.

Distribution. Southeastern Alaska, southward near the coast to southern Mendocino County, California, extending eastward over the mountains of southern British Columbia, northern Washington, Idaho and Montana, to the western slopes of the continental divide, and through Oregon to the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains, sometimes ascending in the interior to elevations of 6000° above the sea; most abundant and of its largest size on the coast of Washington and Oregon; often forming a large part of the forests of the northwest coast.

Frequently planted as an ornamental tree in temperate Europe.

4. Tsuga Mertensiana Sarg. Mountain Hemlock. Black Hemlock.

Leaves standing out from all sides of the branch, remote on leading shoots and crowded on short lateral branchlets, rounded and occasionally obscurely grooved or on young plants sometimes conspicuously grooved on the upper surface, rounded and slightly ribbed on the lower surface, bluntly pointed, often more or less curved, stomatiferous above and below, with about 8 rows of stomata on each surface, light bluish green or on some individuals pale blue, ½′—1′ long, about 1/16′ wide, abruptly narrowed into nearly straight or slightly twisted petioles articulate on bases as long or rather longer than the petioles; irregularly deciduous during their third and fourth years. Flowers: male borne on slender pubescent drooping stems, violet-purple; female erect, with delicate lustrous dark purple or yellow-green bracts gradually narrowed above into slender often slightly reflexed tips and much longer than their scales. Fruit sessile, oblong-cylindric, narrowed toward the blunt apex and somewhat toward the base, erect until more than half grown, pendulous or rarely erect at maturity, ⅝′—3′ long, with thin delicate oblong-obovate scales gradually contracted from above the middle to the wedge-shaped base, rounded at the slightly thickened more or less erose margins, puberulous on the outer surface, usually bright bluish purple or occasionally pale yellow-green, four or five times as long as their short-pointed dark purple or brown bracts; seeds light brown, ⅛′ long, often marked on the surface next their scales with 1 or 2 large resin-vesicles, with wings nearly ½′ long, broadest above the middle, gradually narrowed below, slightly or not at all oblique at the rounded apex.

A tree, usually 70°—100° but occasionally 150° high, with a slightly tapering trunk 4°—5° in diameter, gracefully pendant slender branches furnished with drooping frond-like lateral branches, their ultimate divisions erect and forming an open pyramid surmounted by the long drooping leading shoot, and thin flexible or sometimes stout rigid branchlets light reddish brown and covered for two or three years with short pale dense pubescence, becoming grayish brown and very scaly. Winter-buds acute, about ⅛′ long, the scales of the outer ranks furnished on the back with conspicuous midribs produced into slender deciduous awl-like tips. Bark 1′—1½′ thick, deeply divided into connected rounded ridges broken into thin closely appressed dark cinnamon scales shaded with blue or purple. Wood light, soft, not strong, close-grained, pale brown or red, with thin nearly white sapwood; occasionally manufactured into lumber.

Distribution. Exposed ridges and slopes at high altitudes along the upper border of the forest from southeastern Alaska, southward over the mountain ranges of British Columbia to the Olympic Mountains of Washington, and eastward to the western slopes of the Selkirk Mountains in the interior of southern British Columbia, and along the Bitter Root Mountains to the headwaters of the Clearwater River, Idaho; along the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon, on the mountain ranges of northern California, and along the high Sierra Nevada to the cañon of the south fork of King’s River, California; in Alaska occasionally descending to the sea-level, and toward the southern limits of its range often ascending to elevations of 10,000°.

Often planted as an ornamental tree in western and central Europe, and rarely in the eastern United States.

5. PSEUDOTSUGA Carr.

Pyramidal trees, with thick deeply furrowed bark, hard strong wood, with spirally marked wood-cells, slender usually horizontal irregularly whorled branches clothed with slender spreading lateral branches forming broad flat-topped masses of foliage, ovoid acute leaf-buds, the lateral buds in the axils of upper leaves, their inner scales accrescent and marking the branchlets with ring-like scars. Leaves petiolate, linear, flat, rounded and obtuse or acuminate at apex, straight or incurved, grooved on the upper side, marked on the lower side by numerous rows of stomata on each side of the prominent midrib, spreading nearly at right angles with the branch. Flowers solitary, the male axillary, scattered along the branches, oblong-cylindric, with numerous globose anthers, their connectives terminating in short spurs, the female terminal or in the axils of upper leaves, composed of spirally arranged ovate rounded scales much shorter than their acutely 2-lobed bracts, with midribs produced into elongated slender tips. Fruit an ovoid-oblong acute pendulous cone maturing in one season, with rounded concave rigid scales persistent on the axis of the cone after the escape of the seeds, and becoming dark red-brown, much shorter than the 2-lobed bracts with midribs ending in rigid woody linear awns, those at the base of the cone without scales and becoming linear-lanceolate by the gradual suppression of their lobes. Seeds nearly triangular, full, rounded and dark-colored on the upper side and pale on the lower side, shorter than their oblong wings infolding the upper side of the seeds in a dark covering; outer seed-coat thick and crustaceous, the inner thin and membranaceous; cotyledons 6—12, much shorter than the inferior radicle.

Pseudotsuga is confined to western North America, southern Japan, southwestern China and Formosa. Four species are recognized.

_Pseudotsuga_, a barbarous combination of a Greek with a Japanese word, indicates the relation of these trees with the Hemlocks.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Leaves usually rounded and obtuse at apex, dark yellow-green or rarely
blue-green; cones 2′—4½′ long, their bracts much exserted.
1. P. taxifolia (B, E, F, G, H).
Leaves acuminate at apex, bluish gray; cones 4′—6½′ long, their bracts
slightly exserted.
2. P. macrocarpa (G).

1. Pseudotsuga taxifolia Britt. Douglas Spruce. Red Fir.

_Pseudotsuga mucronata Sudw._

Leaves straight or rarely slightly incurved, rounded and obtuse at apex, or acute on leading shoots, ¾′—1¼′ long, 1/16′—1/12′ wide, dark yellow-green or rarely light or dark bluish green, occasionally persistent until their sixteenth year. Flowers: male orange-red; female with slender elongated bracts deeply tinged with red. Fruit pendant on long stout stems, 4′—6½′ long, with thin slightly concave scales rounded and occasionally somewhat elongated at apex, usually rather longer than broad, when fully grown at midsummer slightly puberulous, dark blue-green below, purplish toward the apex, bright red on the closely appressed margins, and pale green bracts becoming slightly reflexed above the middle, ⅕′—¼′ wide, often extending ½′ beyond the scales; seeds light reddish brown and lustrous above, pale and marked below with large irregular white spots, ¼′ long, nearly ⅛′ wide, almost as long as their dark brown wings broadest just below the middle, oblique above and rounded at the apex.

A tree, often 200° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, frequently taller, with a trunk 10°—12° in diameter, but in the dry interior of the continent rarely more than 80°—100° high, with a trunk hardly exceeding 2°—3° in diameter, slender crowded branches densely clothed with long pendulous lateral branches, forming while the tree is young an open pyramid, soon deciduous from trees crowded in the forest, often leaving the trunk naked for two thirds of its length and surmounted by a comparatively small narrow head sometimes becoming flap-topped by the lengthening of the upper branches, and slender branchlets pubescent for three or four years, pale orange color and lustrous during their first season, becoming bright reddish brown and ultimately dark gray-brown. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, the terminal bud often ¼′ long and nearly twice as large as the lateral buds. Bark on young trees smooth, thin, rather lustrous, dark gray-brown, usually becoming on old trunks 10′—12′ thick, and divided into oblong plates broken into great broad rounded and irregularly connected ridges separating on the surface into small thick closely appressed dark red-brown scales. Wood light, red or yellow, with nearly white sapwood; very variable in density, quality, and in the thickness of the sapwood; largely manufactured into lumber in British Columbia, western Washington and Oregon, and used for all kinds of construction, fuel, railway-ties, and piles; known commercially as “Oregon pine.” The bark is sometimes used in tanning leather.

Distribution. From about latitude 55° north in the Rocky Mountains and from the head of the Skeena River in the coast range, southward through all the Rocky Mountain system to the mountains of western Texas, southern New Mexico and Arizona, and of northern Mexico, and from the Big Horn and Laramie Ranges in Wyoming and from eastern base of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the Pacific coast, but absent from the arid mountains in the great basin between the Wahsatch and the Sierra Nevada ranges and from the mountains of southern California; most abundant and of its largest size near the sea-level in the coast region of southern British Columbia and of Washington and Oregon, and on the western foothills of the Cascade Mountains; ascending on the California Sierras to elevations of 5500°, and on the mountains of Colorado to between 6000° and 11,000°, above the sea.

Often planted for timber and ornament in temperate Europe, and for ornament in the eastern and northern states, where only the form from the interior of the continent flourishes. (_P. glauca Mayr._)

2. Pseudotsuga macrocarpa Mayr. Hemlock.

Leaves acute or acuminate, terminating in slender rigid callous tips, apparently 2-ranked by the conspicuous twist of their petioles, incurved above the middle, ¾′—1¼′ long, about 1/16′ wide, dark bluish gray. Flowers: male pale yellow, inclosed for half their length in conspicuous involucres of the lustrous bud-scales; female with pale green bracts tinged with red. Fruit produced on the upper branches and occasionally on those down to the middle of the tree, short-stalked, with scales near the middle of the cone 1½′—2′ across, stiff, thick, concave, rather broader than long, rounded above, abruptly wedge-shaped at the base, puberulous on the outer surface, often nearly as long as their comparatively short and narrow bracts with broad midribs produced into short flattened flexible tips; seeds full and rounded on both sides, rugose, dark chestnut-brown or nearly black and lustrous above, pale reddish brown below, ½′ long, ⅜′ wide, with a thick brittle outer coat, and wings broadest near the middle, about ½′ long, nearly ¼′ wide, and rounded at the apex.

A tree, usually 40°—50° and rarely 90° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, remote elongated branches pendulous below, furnished with short stout pendant or often erect laterals forming an open broad-based symmetrical pyramidal head, slender branchlets dark reddish brown and pubescent during their first year, becoming glabrous and dark or light orange-brown and ultimately gray-brown. Winter buds ovoid, acute, usually not more than ⅛′ long, often nearly as broad as long. Bark 3′—6′ thick, dark reddish brown, deeply divided into broad rounded ridges covered with thick closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, not durable; occasionally manufactured into lumber; largely used for fuel.

Distribution. Steep rocky mountain slopes in southern California at elevations of 3000°—5000° above the sea, often forming open groves of considerable extent, from the Santa Inez Mountains in Santa Barbara County to the Cuyamaca Mountains.

6. ABIES Link. Fir.

Tall pyramidal trees, with bark containing numerous resin-vesicles, smooth, pale, and thin on young trees, often thick and deeply furrowed in old age, pale and usually brittle wood, slender horizontal wide-spreading branches in regular remote 4 or 5-branched whorls, clothed with twice or thrice forked lateral branches forming flat-topped masses of foliage gradually narrowed from the base to the apex of the branch, the ultimate divisions stout, glabrous or pubescent, and small subglobose or ovoid winter branch-buds usually thickly covered with resin, or in one species large and acute, with thin loosely imbricated scales. Leaves linear, sessile, on young plants and on lower sterile branches flattened and mostly grooved on the upper side, or in one species 4-sided, rounded and usually emarginate at apex, appearing 2-ranked by a twist near their base or occasionally spreading from all sides of the branch, only rarely stomatiferous above, on upper fertile branches and leading shoots usually crowded, more or less erect, often incurved or falcate, thick, convex on the upper side, or quadrangular in some species and then obtuse, or acute at apex and frequently stomatiferous on all sides; persistent usually for eight or ten years, in falling leaving small circular scars. Flowers axillary, from buds formed the previous season on branchlets of the year, surrounded at the base by conspicuous involucres of enlarged bud-scales, the male very abundant on the lower side of branches above the middle of the tree, oval or oblong-cylindric with yellow or scarlet anthers surmounted by short knob-like projections, the female usually on the upper side only of the topmost branches, or in some species scattered also over the upper half of the tree, erect, globose, ovoid or oblong, their scales imbricated in many series, obovate, rounded above, cuneate below, much shorter than their acute or dilated mucronate bracts. Fruit an erect ovoid or oblong-cylindric cone, its scales closely imbricated, thin, incurved at the broad apex and generally narrowed below into long stipes, decreasing in size and sterile toward the ends of the cone, falling at maturity with their bracts and seeds from the stout tapering axis of the cone long-persistent on the branch. Seeds furnished with large conspicuous resin-vesicles, ovoid or oblong, acute at base, covered on the upper side and infolded below on the lower side by the base of their thin wing abruptly enlarged at the oblique apex; seed-coat thin, of 2 layers, the outer thick, coriaceous, the inner membranaceous; cotyledons 4—10, much shorter than the inferior radicle.

Abies is widely distributed in the New World from Labrador and the valley of the Athabasca River to the mountains of North Carolina, and from Alaska through the Pacific and Rocky Mountain regions to the highlands of Guatemala, and in the Old World from Siberia and the mountains of central Europe to southern Japan, central China, Formosa, the Himalayas, Asia Minor, and the highlands of northern Africa. Thirty-three species are now recognized. Several exotic species are cultivated in the northern and eastern states; of these the best known and most successful as ornamental trees are _Abies Nordmanniana_, Spach, of the Caucasus, _Abies cilicica_ Carr., of Asia Minor, _Abies cephalonica_ Loud., a native of Cephalonia, _Abies Veitchii_ Lindl., and _Abies homolepis_ S. & Z., of Japan, and _Abies pinsapo_, Boiss., of the Spanish Sierra Nevada.

_Abies_ is the classical name of the Fir-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.