CHAP CXIII. 



CONl'FER/E. y^^BlES. 



2224 



2311 



with the wing, | in. long, y\ in. broad. Leaves | in. long ; on the tree at Drop- 

 more, twice the length of those of A. nigra, very glaucous when they first 

 come out. A tree, from 40 ft. to 30 ft. high, a native of North America. 

 Introduced in 1700; flowering in May and June. 



Varieti/, 



i A. a. 2 nana Dickson of the Chester Nursery is a low-growing plant, 



apparently somewhat distinct. The specimen in the Horticultural 



Society's Garden, 10 years planted, is 3 ft. high. 



Other Varieties. Loiseleur Deslongchamps states that, according to the 



specimens of A. orientalis which Tournefort brought from the Levant, this 



alleged species cannot be separated from A. k\ba. He therefore introduces 



A, orientalis Tourn., Pair. Diet., vi. p. 508., and Lamb. Pin., ed. 1., ii. t. 39., 



as a variety of A. alba. We have placed it at the end of this section, in 



small type, as not having been seen by us in a living state, t' 



Deseriptioriy Sfc. The general aspect of the white spruce is much lighter 

 than that of any other species of the genus. It has a tapering trunk, which, 

 according to Michaux, in America, rarely exceeds 30 ft. in height, and 1 ft. or 

 1 ft. 4 in. in diameter j and its branches form a regular pyramid. The bark is 

 considerably lighter in colour than that of any other spruce; the leaves are 

 also less numerous, longer, more pointed, at a more open angle with the 

 branches, and of a pale bluish green. The male catkins are pendulous, on 

 long footstalks, and of a brownish yellow. The female catkins are ovate and 

 pendulous. When ripe, the cones are small, of a lengthened oval in shape, and 

 a light brown colour ; the scales are loose and thin, round or bluntly pointed, 

 with entire edges. The seeds are minute, with a very small wing, and ripen 

 a month earlier than those of the black spruce. When the tree is agitated 

 with the wind, or when the cones are gently struck with a stick, the seeds 

 drop out, and fall slowly to the ground with a tremulous fluttering motion, 

 resembling a cloud of small pale brown moths. The wood is inferior in 

 quality to that of any of the other spruces ; and it " snaps more frequently in 

 burning." The white spruce is a native of Canada, New Brunswick, and 

 the district of Maine. It extends from the Lake St. John, in 48° or 49°, to 

 about 70° N. lat. ; but is much less common than the black spruce is in the 

 same districts. Dr. Richardson, in his Appendix to Captain Franklin's Tour 

 to the North Pole, mentions A. alba as the most northerly tree that came under 

 his observation ; and states that, on the Coppermine River, within 20 miles 

 of the Arctic Sea, he found trees of it 20 ft. high. The wood is considered of 

 little value ; but the fibres of the roots, macerated in water, are very flexible 

 and tough when deprived of their pellicle, split, and cleaned ; and they are 

 used, in Canada, to stitch together the canoes of birch bark (see p. 1709.), the 

 seams of which are afterwards smeared over with a resin, improperly called 

 gum, that distils from the tree. (Mich.v., and Gard. Mag., vol. vi. p. 406.) 

 Mr. Lambert states that the bark is used in tanning, and the young sprigs for 



