DESCRIPTIONS OF GENERA AND SPECIES 

 OF WOODY PLANTS 



TAXUS L. (Taxaceae) 



OHRUBS with evergreen, linear, mucronate, alternate 

 leaves, the pistillate flower consisting of a single ovule (not in a 

 cone). 



1. T. canadensis Marph. American Yew. A low sprawling 

 shrub, seldom over 1 m. high; leaves 2-ranked, dark green above, 

 yellowish-green beneath, 12-30 mm. long, about 2 mm. wide, 

 persistent on twigs in drying; seed mostly surrounded by a fleshy 

 aril which when mature becomes 6 mm. long, red, juicy, sweet, 

 resembling the fruit of angiosperms, often persistent into winter. 

 Rich woods and thickets, Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Iowa 

 and the mountains of Kentucky (Fig. 1). 



ABIES Mill. (Pinaceae) 



Evergreen trees with leaves linear, flat, scattered, sessile, 

 spreading so as to appear 2-ranked, but in reality spirally ar- 

 ranged, usually persistent in drying (hence the young plants quite 

 satisfactory as Christmas trees). Cones erect, cylindric or ovoid, 

 maturing the first year, the scales falling from the persistent axis 

 (hence the ripe cones do not fall from the tree intact, as in most 

 other conifers). 



1. A. balsamea (L. ) Mill. Balsam Fir . A slender tree 

 10-25 m. tall, the trunk 1 m. in diameter; bark nearly smooth,but 

 with resin blisters (hence the name "Blister-Pine" commonly used 

 in the Alleghenies); leaves narrowly linear, obtusely pointed, 1-3. 2 

 cm. long, marked with two white lines beneath; cones cylindrical, 

 6-10 cm. long when mature; bracts obovate, serrulate, tipped with 

 an abrupt slender point, shorter than or about equaling the scales. 

 Woods, Labrador to Alberta, south to Iowa and the mountains of 

 West Virginia (Fig. 2). 



TSUGA (Endl. ) Carr. (Pinaceae) 



Evergreen trees with slender horizontal or drooping branches 

 and flat narrowly linear alternate leaves, spreading and appearing 

 2-ranked, attached to very short stalks (sterigmata ), quickly fall- 



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