10 ** THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



ON THE CANADIAN SPECIES OF THE 

 GENUS PICEA. 



By the Abbe 0. Brunet, of Laval University 



Botanists have always recognized the existence in North 

 America of two trees which may be referred to the genus Picea, 

 established by Link. They are the Abies alba of Michaux, and 

 the Abies nigra of Poiret, (A. denticulata, Michaux). These two 

 species have been imperfectly described, and are almost always 

 confounded ; some authors, moreover, have regarded them as 

 nothing more than varieties of one and the same species. These 

 considerations have led me to study these interesting trees in 

 detail, and to complete, as far as possible, their history. 



Genus PICEA, Link. 



Leaves persistent, solitary, scattered, and surrounding the 

 branches, tetragonal, stiff, marked on both sides with white lines of 

 numerous stomata ; male flowers clustered towards the ends of the 

 branches ; cones pendulous, persistent, terminal or axillary ; 

 seeds without resiniferous ducts, separating after a time from the 

 base of the wing. Wood, almost white, with resiniferous ducts, 

 bavins no distinction of alburnum or duramen; cells of the 

 medullary rays without large pits ; groups of cubic lignified cells 

 in the older bark. 



Picea alba. 



The Picea alba is one of the most abundant trees in Canada, 

 extending throughout the province. To the northward, following 

 the line of the Saguenay, it is found, diminished in size, along the 

 Mistassini, but disappears altogether about the cascades of that 

 river (Michaux MS.) to reappear in the Hudson Bay territory ; 

 where, according to Dr. Richardson, it grows to a large size, and 

 is the most important forest tree of those northern regions. 



The Picea alba in favourable situations generally attains a 

 height of from seventy to eighty feet, with a diameter of ten feet 

 at the base ; in the Saguenay district however, trees of this 

 species are said to have been found, from 130 to 140 feet in 

 height. These large trunks taper gradually and regularly towards 

 thetop ; they are very straight, and the branches extend horizon- 

 tally, and are arranged so as to form a regular pyramid, the 

 summit of which is long and slender, giving to the tree a very 



