The Trees of Vermont 43 



PINACEAE 



Swamp Spruce. Black Spruce 

 Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP. [Picea nigra Link] 



Habit. — A small tree 20-50 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 

 6-12 inches; forming a narrow-based, conical, more or less irregular 

 crown of short, slender, horizontal branches ; often small and stunted. 



Leaves. — Spirally arranged, spreading in all directions ; awl- 

 shaped, 4-sided, blunt at the apex, more or less incurved ; stiff ; dark 

 blue-green and glaucous ; ^i-H "^ch long. Persistent for several years. 



Flowers. — May ; monoecious ; the staminate in subglobose clus- 

 ters, about ^ inch long, composed of many spirally arranged, dark red 

 anthers; the pistillate in oblong-cylindrical clusters, composed of broad, 

 purple scales (subtended by rounded, toothed, purple bracts) spirally 

 arranged upon a central axis, about ^ inch long. 



Fruit. — Autumn of first season, but persistent on the branch for 

 many years ; pendent, ovoid, short-stalked cones, about 1 inch long ; 

 seeds about }i inch long, with pale brown wings 3^ inch long. 



Winter-buds. — Ovoid, acute, light red-brown, puberulous, j/^ inch 

 long. 



Bark. — Twigs at first green and rusty-pubescent, becoming dull 

 red-brown and rusty-pubescent ; thin, gray-brown on the trunk, separa- 

 ting into thin, appressed scales. 



Wood. — Light, soft, weak, pale yellow-white, with thin, pure white 

 sapwood. 



Distribution. — This is the common spruce of the sphagnum 

 (peat moss) swamps of the Champlain valley. It is also common in 

 Essex and Franklin counties and probably occurs similarly in the other 

 parts of Vermont, especially in peat bogs, but the distribution is not 

 well known because of its confusion until recently with the red spruce. 



Habitat. — Cold, sphagnous bogs and swamps ; shores of lakes. 



Notes. — The black spruce is short-lived. It is undesirable for 

 ornamental planting, as the lower branches die early, making an un- 

 attractive evergreen. A small, semi-prostrate, sterile form, Picea 

 mariana, forma semiprostrata^ occurs on the summit of Mt. Mansfield. 



