64 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



surface, marked below the middle with obscure grooves, silvery white or on old 

 leaves pale on the lower surface, with bands of 8-10 rows of stomata between the 

 broad midrib and the thickened strongly revolute margins, 2-ranked from the con- 

 spicuous twist near their base and spreading at nearly right angles to the branch or 



somewhat ascending on upper fertile branches, 1^-2^ long, on leading shoots stand- 

 ing out at almost right angles, rounded on the upper surface, more or less incurved 

 above the middle, 1^'-1|' long, about ^ wide. Flo-wers : staminate produced in 

 great numbers near the base of the branchlets on branches from the middle of the 

 tree upward, pale yellow; pistillate near the ends of the branchlets of the upper 

 branches only, with oblong scales rounded above and nearly as long as their cuneate 

 obcordate yellow-green bracts ending in slender elongated awns. Fruit on stout 

 peduncles sometimes ^' long, oval or subcylindrical, full and rounded at tile apex, 

 glabrous, pale purple-brown, 3'-4' long, with thin scales strongly incurved above, 

 obtusely short-pointed at the apex, obscurely denticulate on the thin margins, about 

 one third longer than their oblong-obvate obcordate pale yellow-brown bracts termi- 

 nating in flat rigid tips I'-lf ' long, above the middle of the cone pointing toward its 

 apex and often closely appressed to its sides, below the middle spreading toward its 

 base and frequently much recurved, firmly attached to the cone-scales and decidu- 

 ous with them from the thick conical sharp-pointed axis of the cone; seeds dark 

 red-brown, about f long, and nearly as long as their oblong-obovate pale reddish 

 brown lustrous wings rounded at the apex. 



A tree, 100-150 high, with a trunk sometimes 3 in diameter, comparatively 

 short slender usually pendulous branches furnished with long sinuous rather remote 

 lateral branches sparsely clothed with foliage, forming a broad-based pyramid 

 abruptly narrowed 15-20 from the top of the tree into a thin spire-like head, and 

 stout glabrous light reddish brown branchlets covered at first with a glaucous bloom. 

 Winter-buds ovate, acute, f '-1' long, ^'-^' thick, with very thin loosely imbricated 

 pale chestnut brown acute, boat-shaped scales. Bark becoming near the base of the 

 tree ^-f ' thick, light reddish brown, slightly and irregularly fissured and broken into 

 thick closely appressed scales. "Wood heavy, not hard, coarse-grained, light brown 

 tinged with yellow, with paler sap wood. 



Distribution. In a few isolated groves along the moist bottoms of caiions, usually 



