434 CONIFERiE. (pine FAMILY.) 



and mostly damp soil, Florida to North Carolina. — Commonly a lofty tree, 

 with very thick and fun-owed bark, and valuable, but sparingly resinous wood ; 

 but in old fields low, with spreading branches. Leaves 6'- 10' long, rarely 2 or 

 4 iu a sheath, dark green. Cones 3'- 5' long. 



8. P. australis, Michx. (Loxg-leaved or Yellow Pine.) Leaves 

 very lon^-, from long sheaths, crowded at the summit of the thick and very scaly 

 branches ; cones large, cylindrical or conical-oblong, the thick scales armed with 

 a short recurved spine. (P. palustris, h., the prior but inappropriate name ) — 

 Sandy soil, constituting almost the entire growth of the Pine Barrens. — A lofty 

 tree, with thin-scaled bark, and very valuable resinous wood, dividing near the 

 summit into few spreading branches. Leaves 10' -15' long. Leaf-bracts sca- 

 rious, fimbriate. Cones 6'- 10' long. 



* * * Leaves jive in each sheath. 



9. P. Strobus, L. (White Pine.) Leaves slender, from a very short 

 and deciduous sheath ; cones long, cylindrical, recurved, with the loosely im- 

 bricated scales neither thickened nor spiny at the apex. — A tree of moderate 

 dimensions on the mountains of Georgia and North Carolina, but northward 

 one of the loftiest of trees, and greatly valued for its soft white wood. Leaves 

 3' - 4' long. Cones 4' - 6' long. 



2. ABIES, Tourn. Spruce. Fir. 



Chiefly as in Pinus, but the aments mostly solitary ; anthers opening length- 

 wise or transversely ; scales of the cone not thickened at the apex, nor spiny ; 

 wings of the seed persistent. — Leaves single, short. 



* Cones hiUral, erect ; with the scales deciduous at viaturitij : aiiihcr-cells opening 



iraitsversvh/. 



1. A. Fraseri, Pursh. (Silvp:r or Balsam Fir.) Leaves somewhat 

 distichous, linear, flattened, obtuse or emarginate, wiiitened beneath, the lower 

 ones somewhat recurved, the uppermost erect ; cone oblong-ovate ; bracts long, 

 oblong-wedgc-shapcd, short-pointed, reflexed at the summit. — High mountains 

 of North Carolina, and northward. — A small tree. Leaves 6" -8" long. Cones 

 1'-^' long. 



* * Cones terminal, pendulous, with the scales persistcrU : anther-cells opening 



length wise. 



2. A. Canadensis, Michx. (Hemlock-Spruce.) Leaves distichous, 

 flat, liiicar, obtuse, dark green above, whitened beneath ; cones small, oval or 

 oblong, with the few scales smooth and entire. — Higli mountains of North Car- 

 olina, and northward — A large tree with the horizontal branches gradually 

 diminishing upward, forming a pyramidal spray. Leaves ^' long. Cones 8"- 

 9" long. 



3. A. nigra, I'oir. (Black Srni-ci-.) Lonves scattered on nil sides of 

 the brandies, needle-shaped, 4-si<kil, erect, dark green ; cone ovate or ovuto- 



