﻿348 The New York Siate College of Forestry 



narrowed into short petioles which are articulated to woody, persistent bases. 

 Flowers monoecious, solitary, vernal; staminate flowers subglobose, axillary, 

 composed of numerous, spirally-arranged stamens with subglobose anthers and 

 connective produced into an apiculate tip ; ovulate flowers oblong to cylin- 

 dric, erect, terminal; ovuliferous scales nearly orbicular, somewhat longer 

 than the subtending bracts; ovules 2, inverted. Fruit an ovate-oblong to 

 oblong, pendant, sessile or short-stalked, woody cone, maturing the first season 

 and opening tardily during the winter; seeds ovate-oblong, acute at the base, 

 smaller that the wings; cotyledons 3-6. Tsivga canadensis (L.) Carr. is 

 found in New York State. 



THE FIRS. Genus ABIES (Tourn.) Hill. 

 Under optimum development the firs are tall, pyramidal trees 

 with slender, horizontal, wide-spreading branches in regular 

 remote whorls of 4-5, and bark which is smooth when young and 

 contains numerous resin-vesicles. The twenty-five species which 

 are now recognized, are all natives of the northern hemisphere, 

 chiefiy of the cooler regions, and are scattered through North 

 America, Japan, Asia, Europe, and northern Africa. Eight 

 species are found in western United States while two occur in the 

 Atlantic States. 



Leaves persistent, linear, sessile, those on young trees and on lower sterile 

 branches flattened and mostly grooved on the upper side (4-sided in Abies 

 magiiifica) , rounded or emarginate at the apex, centrally grooved above, 

 spirally arranged but generally appearing 2-ranked by a twist in their bases, 

 stoniatiferous only below, those on vigorous shoots and fertile branches 

 crowded, incurved, more or less erect and quadrangular, obtuse or acute at 

 the apex, sometimes stoniatiferous above; leaves persist 8-10 years and in 

 falling leave circular sears flush with the twig. Branch-buds usually resin- 

 coated. Flowers axillary, monoecious, surrounded at the base by accrescent 

 bud-scales; staminate flowers numerous on the lower side of branches above 

 the middle of the tree, oval or oblong- cylindrical, composed of numerous, 

 spirally arranged stamens with 2 anthers and connective ending in a knob; 

 ovulate flowers erect on upper side of branchlet, usually confined to' topmost 

 branches, globose or oblong-cyUndrical, consisting of spirally arranged ovuli- 

 ferous scales, subtended but not overtopped by mucronate bracts ; ovules 2, 

 inverted. Fruit an ovoid or oblong-cylindrical, erect cone, maturing the first 

 season; ovuliferous-scales numerous, broad, thin, subtended by a thin, mem- 

 branous bract which projects in some species; at maturity the ovuliferous 

 scale, bract and seed fall away from the upright, persistent cone-axis ; seeds 

 ovoid or oblong, winged; eotlyledons 4-10. The genus is represented in New 

 York State by Abies balsamea (L.), Mill., the Balsam Fir. 



THE ARBOR- VITAES. Genus THUJA L. 

 The arbor-vitaes are resinous, evergreen trees with pyramidal 

 crowns, flat, fan-shaped, 2-ranked sprays of foliage, soft, even- 



