PICEA 123 



under the name of var. compacta Arselyn, which is said 

 to be distinct. Of this I have seen only young plants, 

 and at present they appear to be akin to var. microspermay 

 but finer and not so vigorous in habit. 



P. nigra, Lk. 



Syn.: P. Mariana, B.S.P. Prel. and Britt. 

 The black spruce is found widely distributed in North 

 America, Labrador, Mackenzie River, and Newfoundland, 

 to as far south as Northern Virginia. It produces cones 

 in quite a small state, and the arborescent type varies in 

 height from about 35 feet down to about 2 feet. Professor 

 Sargent (" A. A. Bull.," 18, 1918) states that in the sandy 

 swamps of Prince Edward Island it is not more than 2 feet 

 high, and yet produces fertile seeds and cones. H. E. Ayres 

 (in " Garden and Forest," vii. 504) says that it is found 

 growing in sphagnum on the borders of small forest lakes 

 as little old trees 2 to 3 feet high, their tops densely crowded 

 with cones, and on the highest summits of the Adirondacks, 

 it is a procumbent shrub, offering little impediment to 

 the walker over it; the bushes being quite flat, with their 

 branches issuing from opposite sides of the main trunk and 

 growing in dense patches completely covering the ground. 



P. nigra, var. Doumetti, Carr. (" Conif.," i. 242, 1857). 

 Syn. : P. Mariana Doumetti, Hort. 



Buds. — Similar to the type, but smaller — J to J inch. 



BrancJilets. — Ascending, fine, stiff, bright shining orange, 

 sparsely covered with pubescence; annual growth about 

 3 inches. 



Leaves. — Glaucous, green-blue; almost radial, but fewer 

 below — these point out and slightly forward, a few in the 

 middle rank point out at right angles; those above 

 crowded, somewhat appressed, and point directly forward ; 

 under | inch; fine, narrow, flexible, straight or curved. 



A broad pyramidal shrub with ascending branches. 

 Ultimate height about 7 to 8 feet. This is said (E. and H., 

 vol. vi.) to have been raised in 1835 at Chateau de Baleine, 



