316 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. 



of this species in the southern parts of Maine exceeding 

 100 feet in height, with a stem four feet in diameter. P. 

 inops, which was not seen by us on the canoe route to the 

 north of the United States' boundary, extends on the north- 

 west coast from Oregon to Sitka, and ascends Mount Rainier 

 to near the snow limit. P. strobus, white or Weymouth pine, 

 has its equatorial limit on the Alleghanies of Virginia or North 

 Carolina, and it ranges northwards to the south end of Lake 

 Winipeg. In the Middle States this tree has a shaft of 100 

 feet ; and Emerson has collected instances of trees formerly ex- 

 isting which had the extraordinary length of from 220 to 260 

 feet. Even near its northern termination it is still a stately tree. 

 Abies balsamea, balsam fir, was not traced beyond the 62nd 

 parallel on the canoe route. It is Le Sapin of the voyagers, 

 who prefer its spray to that of any other tree for laying the 

 floor of a tent or winter bivouack. Dr. Gray traced it on the 

 Alleghanies only to Pennsylvania. In the latitude of Norfolk 

 Sound (57°) it crosses the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. In 

 Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, Pinus fraseri, or the 

 small fruited balsam fir, occupies the Alleghanies to the ex- 

 clusion of the preceding. It does not reach the great lakes. 

 A. canadensis, hemlock spruce, was observed on the Kameni- 

 stikwoya, but not further north than the 49th parallel ; though 

 Mr. Tolmie traced it up to the 57th degree of latitude on the 

 shores of the Pacific, and it was observed by Mertens on Sitka. 

 In Maryland this species is found on the Alleghanies only ; 

 and Dr. Gray thinks that it ceases to grow in North Carolina 

 and Tennessee. A. alba, white spruce. Of this species we 

 have had frequent occasion to speak in the preceding pages, 

 as it is especially the forest tree in Rupert's Land. It is 

 Uepinette blanche of the voyagers, and the Mina-hik of the 

 Crees. Within the arctic circle it seldom exceeds 40 or 50 

 feet in height ; though in ravines, where it is well-sheltered, 

 and has a suitable soil, it attains twice that altitude. Its 

 age in these high latitudes exceeds 400 years before it shows 

 signs of decay. It most probably has a range from one side of 

 the continent to the other, but has not yet been detected on the 



