GENUS 5. 



PINE FAMILY, CONIFERS. 



Balsam Fir. Fig. 148. 



2 on the base of each scale, reflexed, the scale shorter than or exceeding the thin or papery, 

 mucronate or aristate bract. Cones erect, subcylindric or ovoid, their scales deciduous from 

 the persistent axis, orbicular or broader, obtuse. [Ancient name of the firs.] 



About 25 species, natives of the north temperate zone, chiefly in boreal and mountainous 

 regions. Besides the following, 8 others occur in the western parts of North America and i in 

 Mexico. Type species: Finns Picca L., Abies Picea (L.) Lindley, of Europe. 



Bracts surrulate, mucronate, shorter than the scales or but little longer. i. A. balsamea. 



Bracts aristate, reflexed, much longer than the scales. 2. A. Fraseri. 



i. Abies balsamea (L.) Mill. 



Finns balsamea L. Sp. PI. 1002. 1753. 



Abies balsamea Mill. Card. Diet. Ed. 8, No. 3. 



1768. 



A slender forest tree attaining a maximum 

 height of about 90 and a trunk diameter of 

 3, usually much smaller and on mountain tops 

 and in high arctic regions reduced to a low 

 shrub. Bark smooth, warty with resin "blis- 

 ters." Leaves fragrant in drying, less than i" 

 wide, 6"-io" long, obtuse, dark green above, 

 paler beneath or the youngest conspicuously 

 whitened on the lower surface ; cones cylindric, 

 2 r ~4' long, 9"-is" thick, upright, arranged in 

 rows on the upper side of the branches, violet 

 or purplish when young ; bracts obovate, ser- 

 rulate, mucronate, shorter than the broad 

 rounded scales. 



Newfoundland and Labrador to Hudson Bay 

 and Alberta, south to Massachusetts, Pennsyl- 

 vania, along the Alleghanies to Virginia and to 

 Iowa and Minnesota. Ascends to 5000 ft. in the 

 Adirondacks. Wood soft and weak, light brown ; 

 weight per cubic foot 24 Ibs. Canada balsam is 

 derived from the resinous exudations of the 

 trunk. Called also Fir-tree, Fir or Blister-pine, 

 American Silver Fir, Single Spruce, Balm of 

 Gilead. May-June. 



2. Abies Fraseri (Pursh) Poir. Fraser's 

 Balsam Fir. Fig. 149. 



Pinus Fraseri Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 639. 1814. 

 Abies Fraseri Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Suppl. 5 : 35. 

 1817. 



A forest tree, reaching a maximum size 

 rather less than that of the preceding species, 

 the smooth bark bearing similar resin " blis- 

 ters." Leaves, especially the younger, con- 

 spicuously whitened beneath, s"-io" long, 

 nearly i" wide, emarginate or some of them 

 obtuse at the apex; cones oblong-cylindric or 

 ovoid-cylindric, 2'-$' high, about i' thick, their 

 scales rhomboid, much broader than high, 

 rounded at the apex, much shorter than the 

 papery bracts, which are reflexed, their sum- 

 mits emarginate, serrulate and aristate. 



On the high Alleghanies of southwestern Vir- 

 ginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Ten- 

 nessee. Wood similar to that of the northern 

 species, but slightly lighter in weight. Called 

 also Double Spruce, She or Mountain Balsam. 

 May. 



6. TAXODIUM L. C. Rich. Ann. Mus. Paris, 16: 298. 1810. 

 Tall trees with horizontal or drooping branches, and alternate spirally arranged sessile 

 linear or scale-like leaves, deciduous in our species, spreading so as to appear 2-ranked, some 

 of the twigs commonly, deciduous in autumn. Leaf-buds naked. Staminate aments very 

 numerous, globose, in long terminal drooping panicled spikes, appearing before the leaves ; 

 anthers 2-5-celled, the sacs 2-valved. Ovule-bearing aments ovoid, in small terminal clusters, 

 their scales few, bractless, each bearing a pair of ovules on its base. Cones globose or nearly 



